Naruto: Team Kakashi
by TheNewUzumaki
Summary: Just as is told in the show, Sasuke jumps in front of the senbon to save Naruto. But what would happen had it not missed all of his vital organs? No character bashing, Naruto and Sakura both will have the Sharingan. However with Sasuke dead who will be Orochimaru's new target? NaruxSaku Chapters 1 and 2 have been re-vamped. Next Update July 18-20 2012.
1. Chapter 1: Death!

A/N

The entire First Chapter has been re-worked to read, smoother, and changed a bit to make more sense. Nothing plot oriented that will affected later chapters that have been added. Anything changed has simply been done to make more sense, and flow better.

* * *

Team Kakashi

Part 1

Chapter 1: Death

Blood slowly flowed on the ground towards a now severely wounded Naruto Uzumaki, who had the unfortunate luck of taking a senbon in his right eye, causing his eye to be rendered completely useless. As the blood touched the near unconscious Uzumaki he looked up to see where the blood was coming from, though he assumed it was his own. However what he saw caused his one able eye to immediately shoot open, before him bleeding covered in Senbon that were obviously meant as a finishing blow to Naruto, was Sasuke Uchiha.

Haku who had just watched the Uchiha move at faster speeds then he could have predicted was shocked that he had just dove in front of the spray of Senbon to save his team mate. Unaffected by the sacrifice Haku began to pull out more senbon to finish Naruto off as well, however once he had drawn out his weapon he noticed that Naruto was standing.

"This will be easier if you simply stay still." The cold and lifeless voice of Haku not effected Naruto as he simply took a step toward him while slowly raising his head revealing his one good eye changed, no longer blue and full of caring, and joy, but had been altered by a dark demonic force slowly filling Naruto. His eyes began to resemble the monster within which were slit and red filled with malice and hatred for all in his way, and for that moment, Haku was in his way, and he was not going to be for much longer.

Seconds after this an evil dark Chakra began to flow out of Naruto's body, the very maliciousness of the chakra's presence began to melt the Mirrors closest to Naruto. Frozen by the Killer Intent that Naruto was radiating Haku could simply stare, however when he was finally able to grasp the situation is was far too late.

The speed in which Naruto flashed in front of the mirror and the fact that he had chosen the exact one that Haku was in amazed him and at the same time scared him. These feeling did not last long however as Haku was sent through his mirror crashing onto the hard concrete of the Bridge with the still moving form of Naruto crashing on top of him holding him down he began to take out his anger in beating the boy senseless causing the mask to simply crack and fall away revealing his face, one that was familiar to Naruto.

There was no pause however no longer caring about their meeting in the forest or the pleasant conversation that the two had shared instead there was hatred and ferocity, **"Now Haku, you die, for MY precious people!" **The darkness in his voice was clear and his mind tainted as he simply grabbed Haku by the neck and continued to slam his head on to the concrete until a steady flow of blood seeped out showing the end of the young boy's life.

* * *

On the other side of the battle field Kakashi was charging up his Raikiri as his Ninkin, Ninja Dogs, held Zabuza in place. Fear was seen for the first time on Zabuza's face as he awaited the attack which swiftly ended his life, before Kakashi could react to his death however a high pitched scream echoed along the bridge.

Now that Zabuza was dead his mist quickly began to fade away to a less then approval scene, Gato was holding Sakura down on her knees by her hair while an army of mercenaries stood directly behind him. Worst of all he was holding a small knife at her neck waiting for any sign from Kakashi that would be dangerous, sadly for him he wouldn't be able to see it, as Kakashi's next move was a shunshin behind Gato freezing him instantly. "You shouldn't threaten a Shinobi without knowing how much more powerful then you, we are."

Before he could even take in his next breath Kakashi's kunai trailed his neck ending his life causing him to let Sakura go who found herself in the crowd of mercenaries who from the shock of seeing Gato's death were now angry and with their weapons drawn immediately went for Sakura. One of the mercenaries in the crowd threw a pronged spear hoping to impale the exhausted girl.

Though tired Kakashi reacted quickly Sharingan still activated he spun throwing his gloved hand forward hitting the middle of the spear as it was going towards Sakura. A horrified look quickly enveloped Kakashi's face however, expecting to turn and see Sakura fine, he instead saw a piece of debris from the spear in her left eye sticking out a few inches painfully, causing her to fall to the ground in agony.

With so much going on Kakashi for the first time since he was a Chuunin was actually scared, Naruto and Sasuke were no where to be found Sakura may be dying and he had a small army of mercenaries he now had to deal with. Before the rest could convene on him however an arrow hit the ground near the mercenaries and Kakashi. When they looked to see where it had come from it was Inari and the villagers all with makeshift weapons and crossbows ready to defend the land that had been taken away and violated by Gato.

Kakashi knowing that the Mercenaries wouldn't know any better of his jutsu quickly used a certain blondes only technique, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." immediately an army of Kakashi stood all around waiting for orders.

Scared the mercenaries began to turn and literally run off the bridge for safety from the villagers and Kakashi speaking of whom immediately turned down to look at Sakura who had passed out in pain had managed to pull the wood from her eye, which calmed Kakashi down a bit, if she had the wherewithal to know to pull out the large splinter, then she would live as long as he got her to safety.

Though he dispelled most of his clones he had one of them pick up Sakura while the others looked for his other two students. Hoping for better news Kakashi, was sadly disappointed as he felt the memories come back from his clone. His one visible eye shot open as the quickly ran as quickly as he could towards the other side of the bridge behind a set of equipment and lumber.

Everything seemed to be moving at slow motion as he saw the dead body of Sasuke on the ground and Naruto passed out and missing an eye just as Sakura had. His first thought was his experience of the last ninja war with Rin and Obito and how similar the circumstances were, a disturbing thought, that sent chills down the Silver Haired man's neck. Though keeping his composure he immediately went to work, and called for his clone to bring Sakura over he sat her and Naruto down next to the Last Uchiha. Using his Sharingan Kakashi immediately began to work on a transplant of the Uchiha's eyes into his two team mates, being as careful as possible, only going by the memory and study from when his former team mate had done the same for him.

* * *

An unfamiliar feeling quickly awoke the blonde Shinobi as he stirred in a bed at the Bridge builder's house. Reaching up to his eyes to wipe the clumps away his heart jumped up into his throat and back into his stomach as he felt something covering his right eye. Feeling the medical wrap that was placed over it he immediately felt a large twinge of pain, hissing Naruto's voice came out weak and tired, "Agh…what-what happened to me on the bridge…"

As Naruto slumped out of bed he looked at himself in a near by mirror, "Mirror?…." After a second of thinking everything rushed to him instantly, "Haku…the mirrors..SASUKE!" Naruto bust out of the door and ran down the near by stairs until he was first floor with Tazuna, Kakashi, and Tsunami.

Kakashi, looked as bad as Naruto did when he had looked at himself in the mirror, though to most people he would simply look stoic or bored, to someone who had gotten to know him somewhat would know the complacent look. Someone who knew the look of failure and how it looked when hid, like Naruto, would have also seen that immediately.

This was all Naruto needed to see to understand what had happened, frozen as if he couldn't move Naruto felt his eyes water but refused to let himself cry it was at this moment that his mind immediately switched gears. "Where's Sakura-chan?"

Kakashi sighed, "The bedroom next to yours."

Nodding Naruto took off towards the steps and reached Sakura's room, taking a deep breath he slowly opened the door, "Sakura-chan?" his voice barely over a whisper, looking toward her bed no one was in it.

Boldly, Naruto took a few steps inside to see where Sakura was once he did however he noticed her slumped onto her knees in front of the mirror crying silently, yet sobbing so much it literally broke Naruto's heart. As he attempted to get closer to Sakura she reacted by turning her head tears wetting the bandage on one side and the other leading tears all the way down her face.

Dropping down next to her Naruto did something rare, and surprising even for him, he leaned over and hugged Sakura. For the first time she didn't hit him, she didn't see the point in it anymore, the comfort and warmth she felt from him felt amazing. "Thank you Naruto." she held him tighter if just for a moment before letting him go. "Tell Kakashi-sensei I'll be down in a few minutes."

Naruto nodded before leaving the room and closing the door softly behind him.

* * *

After Sakura had come down stairs packed and ready to go they bid their farewells and went out the door, thankfully they could travel back home through the newly completed bridge cutting a lot of travel time. As the trio began to walk past the bridge and into the familiar forests of Fire Country Kakashi spoke softly, "Don't worry they already took him home for the procession…"

Seeing a sigh of relief on his students faces made him feel a little better but it was still the fact they had lost a team mate, a team mate who was the last Uchiha of Konoha. "Kakashi-sensei, when can we take these bandages off?" Sakura soft voice obviously pained.

"After we arrive in Konoha, and the Medical Ninjas inspect that there is no problem such as chakra flow or something of that nature that would cause you to be impaired." Kakashi had maintained an especially close distance to both of his charges since he brought them back. The first group he had ever liked and it was all but destroyed. Honestly he wouldn't be surprised if the Hokage had ordered them all to temporarily take a break from Shinobi life.

As they were getting closer and closer by the hour he looked back towards Naruto seeing him almost literally shaking from fear. When thinking of possible reasons it was so obvious he should have mentioned it earlier, "Naruto!" The sudden shout probably would have shocked the boy but would have at least brought him out of his trance, "They won't blame you Naruto I promise, I'll make sure of that." To reassure him Kakashi gave him his trademark eye smile.

Mustering enough energy for it Naruto managed a half smile and nodded to Kakashi, "Thank you, Sensei."

Sakura confused however quickly jumped at the chance to learn more of Naruto's past, "Who would blame Naruto?" knowing it obviously wasn't the boy's fault she quickly continued, "And why would they?" Sakura's look was one of worry and curiosity.

"Another time Sakura." Kakashi stated plainly as the gates became visible up ahead.

It was clear that the news of Sasuke's death would have immediately spread through Konoha like the wild fire it obviously was. So Team 7 made sure to arrive in the dead of morning before the sun had even began to raise. He couldn't risk the trauma to either of his students from the probably angered people of Konoha not until the Hokage had time to calm them down and certainly at least not until they were mentally and physically well enough to take the results of what happened.

* * *

Swiftly Team 7 glided on the roof tops towards the Hokage tower where they all entered through the Hokage's window on his order to maintain secrecy, Kakashi was the first to acknowledge Sandaime bowing, "Lord Hokage."

The Third simply sighed obviously bothered by the events that had happened far more then he was letting on at the moment. "I take it you, yourself did the transplant, Kakashi?" Though not angry he could tell that the event was definitely unexpected of Kakashi, considering the memories it must have brought back to him.

"Yes, and I apologize if it was the wrong thing to do, I just didn't want my failure to be the reason why these two would not be able to continue on as successful Shinobi." Kakashi was speaking straight from his heart defending his actions and showing the care he held for his two young students.

"If it were up to me personally Kakashi, I would disband Team Seven for at least the duration of the recovery of Naruto and Sakura, but we both know that the council would fight tooth and nail for them to continue on, even going as far as to blackmail." Kakashi's eye immediately widened from that reasoning.

Before Kakashi could say anything however The Third waved him off, "Don't worry about it, what is done is done." Looking towards to the two scared students, neither of them would more than likely never be the same afterwards, each with an oppositely bandaged eye. "Naruto, Sakura, go to the Hospital they will be expecting you." Immediately noticing Naruto's worry he added, "And my own personal ANBU are there waiting so no need to worry Naruto."

Nodding the two left silently jumping out of the window.

* * *

Although the walk had been quiet it seemed the two were drawn closer to each other as they walked, through the streets of Konoha. "Naruto.." Sakura's voice was a whisper in the cold air…

"Yes, Sakura-chan?" Naruto curiously called back to her.

"I'm sorry for everything. The way I treated you how I always hit you, and ignored you it was so wrong…" her voice cracking the further she got along into her transgressions to Naruto.

"I know…Sakura-chan, it's okay." Naruto himself felt a relief from her apologies but at the same time felt guilty that she was breaking down to him, yet he hadn't anything really to say back to her, in fear that she would simply hate him.

After bumping into Naruto a few times Sakura finally just attached herself to him wrapping boy arms around her, accepting the warmth and protection that he presented to her. This was just a few minutes however before reaching the hospital in which just as Hokage had said had two of her personal guards waiting. Naruto immediately recognized them as being the same who watched over him as a young child and felt much more comfortable, even though he was heading to his least favorite place in Konoha.

For the next week both Naruto and Sakura were held at the Hospital in Shinobi intensive care which unlike normal intensive care was only taken care of by medical Shinobi for Shinobi. They worked the entire week on stabilizing their chakra coils with their new eyes making sure vision worked and they could control the usage of it, only by blocking it's site just as Kakashi had done.

Both had immediately declined the eye patch thinking it far to strange and though Naruto was content in imitating Kakashi's method. Sakura decided simply cutting her hair so that it was shoulder length and leaving enough on top to form a bang similar to that of Ino's just on the other side, was good enough.

After the week was over they had both felt much better, in fact many of the doctors were cautious of Naruto who had surprisingly not tried to escape but chalked it up to being his infatuation with the pink haired girl. As they both left the hospital more rested and adjusted to their new senses, they had to get dressed for Sasuke's funeral procession.

Since they were both heading the same way they had reached Naruto's apartment first, which caused a gasp from Sakura and Naruto to simply drop to his knees. His apartment had been burned out from the inside by a controlled fire, apparently they had not wanted to destroy the whole building just his room. Sakura had at first decided it best to leave Naruto to be Naruto he'd find a way.

However something pulled at her, not letting her do so and instead she had helped him up, "Come on, Naruto, you can come with me, I'm sure father has something you can wear." Naruto could only whisper a thanks as he was directed to her house, not that he needed directions but it was nice of her to be so attentive.

Sakura lightly knocked on the door before it swung open revealing a tall pink haired woman very similar in appearance to Sakura. The older Haruno immediately enveloped the girl in a hug tears clearly in her eyes as she had worried about her daughters safety. It was just a moment after that she had noticed Naruto there who immediately jumped back ready to run away should the woman come at him with harmful intent.

Thinking he would deserve it anyway Naruto closed his eyes bracing himself for whatever would happen. Though what happened was a surprise, he felt something soft and warm and it made him feel good, opening his eyes he saw the older Haruno embracing him in a hug as well, "You two must feel terrible right now please hurry in, I'm sure Sakura can show you to some of her father's formal wear while I make the two of you something to eat."

Though silent for the moment, the surprised Naruto had simply nodded and followed Sakura in, who quickly realized that someone was missing. After she had laid out clothes for herself and Naruto, she took a quick shower while Naruto spoke to Mrs. Haruno. Once her shower was over she quickly dressed in her basic black formal garb and went to speak with her mother and set the table.

While Naruto was showering, Sakura had been told by her mother that she kicked her father out when he threatened harm to Naruto should he come by, blaming it all on him. Sakura's mother who's name Naruto had learned during dinner was Saki, had always felt bad for Naruto and on many occasions had wished to take him in if it were not for Sakura's Father.

* * *

That conversation had stayed in between Sakura and her mother however, and once dinner was over the two had went to Sasuke's funeral. The attendance for it, was enormous, even with all the Shinobi present hundreds of villagers had attended as well, many of whom gave evil even threatening glares toward Naruto as well as a few towards Sakura. If it were not for all the ANBU and the Hokage present, Naruto was sure he would have been attacked.

The two had become increasingly closer after the incident becoming what most people began to call an inseparable bond. After the funeral Naruto moved in with the Haruno's due to his own apartment being vandalized for the moment. It was something that both Haruno old and young had forced on to him, one for his safety and the other so that he was always near by.

For at least a few weeks Naruto and Sakura had returned to training without being able to be assigned missions, something that they both protested but did agree they needed more training. After their first two weeks of training neither one had used the gift that they were given out of fear and simply because it was too harsh a reminder.

Finally before training one day both Naruto and Sakura were given message kunai on their bedroom windows to meet Kakashi at the park in Konoha. As instructed they met a surprisingly early Kakashi who turned to see the two Genin looking at him in wonder. "The have always gotten on to me about my being late for training everyday, and despite the excuses I use there is a true reason for it." Both Naruto and Sakura remained uncharacteristically quiet as they listened on.

"When I was your age I lost one of my team mates in the last great Shinobi war, Obito…Uchiha." Both Genin looked wide eyed toward their Sensei as they listened.

"As a result of a Doton (earth) Ninjutsu, a boulder ended up on top of him killing him, and I had gotten my eye taken out by another jutsu. As I sat there with my best friend watching him die he told me he wanted me to take his Sharingan, our team mate Rin, who was a medical Shinobi made the transplant right there in the field after Obito died." Kakashi sighed from the memory as he laid his hand on the Konoha, Memorial Stone.

Apparently the trio had been walking through the park and ended up at the Memorial Stone where Kakashi's hand was on the Name, Obito Uchiha K.I.A. "I'm late everyday because I come here to apologize to Obito for not being the Shinobi…for not being the friend I should have been." Taking a deep breath he turned to look at his students, "And in one day all of it was almost undone, I nearly lost my second team since becoming a Shinobi, and I was not going to allow that to happen."

Everything that Kakashi was saying was hitting right where it needed to, in the two Genin's hearts and minds. One thought in particular, that they should not be afraid of using the Sharingan, but rather more inclined to do so, to remember Sasuke's life, his struggle, his ambition.

Naruto looked at Sakura and gave her a true reassuring smile, then to Kakashi, "Don't worry Kakashi-sensei." Naruto voice hard been a rarity for either to have heard since wave, "You wont be losing us any time soon, haha after all what would Sasuke say? He'd be disappointed if we did anything but kick anyone's butt that got in our way!"

Naruto's small boost of enthusiasm had hit the other two immediately causing them each to nod and smile to Naruto, "Well it seems today we are going to start on the most difficult training yet." Kakashi said plainly, "Using the Sharingan." Both Genin had a look of anxiousness and excitement, access to one of the Shinobi World's Strongest bloodline was no small ordeal.

For the next three months Team "Kakashi" had been training in private not willing to update anyone other then the Hokage of their progress with Naruto and Sakura's adaptation towards the new skill and the training they had to go through. Even then they did not reveal too much, simply that Naruto was using it as a basis to master chakra control over the enormous amounts of chakra he possessed, and Sakura was using the training to boost her reserves by exhausting her pools everyday causing them to expand bit by bit daily.

Finally the Sharingan duo was given a day off thanks to a special summons that Kakashi was given to meet with the Hokage. He left quickly so it must have been important the two thought so at least. Taking the opportunity to reconnect the two left of town to seek out anyone from their class to talk to seeing as how it had only been them for the past nearly four months now.

Luckily for them they immediately spotted Ino's team who had seemingly been just dismissed from training as they were. "Ino!" Sakura shouted out towards her childhood friend, hoping to gain her attention the two had began to jog towards the group as Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji turned to see the two. It had been months since they had seen or heard from either of them.

Immediately Ino enveloped Sakura in a tight hug tears freely flowing from both teens eyes Ino babbling about how she had missed her friend and was glad that she had survived. The blonde had then looked at Naruto with confused and hurt eyes, "I've also heard that it was him, that caused it." her glare struck through Naruto deeply hurting him and was ready to leave.

That was until Sakura quickly grabbed a hold of his hand keeping him in place, though this caused a blush from Naruto he didn't turn so that they would not notice the look on his face. He was taken out of his thoughts though as Sakura began to shoot back at Ino, blasting her for believing it could be Naruto's fault. "Listen Ino, I was there it wasn't Naruto's fault in fact if it wasn't for him I would have been killed as well, and Kakashi Sensei had to save us both in the end anyway!" Sakura's icy glare toward Ino immediately gave her the truth that she needed to hear.

That was when Naruto had heard something that seemed impossible at the time but was never the less grateful, "Thank you Naruto for keeping Sakura safe, I don't know what I would do if they were both gone." Ino's eyes were now downcast as she continued to her apology, "I'm sorry as well for buying into the rumors that you had caused Sasuke-kun's death too."

Naruto and Sakura visibly twitched at the name, but it was forgotten as Naruto began to speak, "Well, Ino, what kind of Hokage would I be if I didn't sacrifice myself for everyone that I could!" The trio stifled a laugh at his actions as well as Shikamaru and Chouji.

"We're glad you made it out okay Naruto." Shikamaru mentioned with a knowledgeable smile who was continue by Chouji's remark, "Yeah It's been way too quiet since you've been gone."

"I have to admit your one of the few, Troublesome things, that aren't too troublesome." Though it confused Naruto by what Shikamaru said, he took it as a compliment and smiled gratefully.

Before the group broke up however Naruto quickly mentioned, "You wouldn't happen to know why all the Sensei's are being summoned do you?" His voice slowly returning back to the familiar loud and confident one they all remembered.

Shikamaru was the obvious one to speak up, "I believe it's about the Chuunin exams, they are being held here this year and if I'm not wrong start next week." All the Genin aside from Shikamaru immediately gaped in surprise and each went into their own thoughts.

"Thank you Shikamaru, I guess we'll see you then won't we!" Naruto smiled after his obnoxiously loud comment.

The team of Ino-Shika-Cho, simply smiled at Naruto welcoming the change in the Villages pace as they went on to probably discuss the Chuunin Exams.

* * *

The Third looked from behind his desk towards the Genin Sensei of his village who were chatting amongst themselves until the usual late Kakashi finally showed. "Now that we can begin, I'm sure you've all learned of the Chuunin Exams being held here this year so quiet simply, who among you deem your Genin ready for this difficult test."

It was not long at all before Kurenai the youngest of the Jounin and newest teacher declared her team ready, she was soon followed by, Asuma, and Gai as well. Kakashi however had remained complacently quiet, before finally walking towards the front.

"I Kakashi Hatake, deem my team of Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno, ready for the Chuunin Exams." Many of the Jounin were surprised but it was the Chuunin, Iruka, who quickly spoke up.

"Surely you can not be serious Kakashi." Though many agreed with the scarred Chuunin they decided to listen, "They have lost their strongest member and were not exactly the best themselves in the Academy. I am sure they have made vast improvements but there is also the fact there is only two of them. Any fight they are in will immediately be disadvantageous for them."

There were many murmurs of agreement after Iruka had finished, but all were surprised from Kakashi's reaction, "True that may be, Iruka, I believe you are wrong in their skill level." Kakashi felt a little bit of pride well up in him from the skill he had noticed from the two in their last training session.

"Both of them have quickly adpated to the ability of the Sharingan, to what extent I will not reveal. But I will say, they have probably the greatest team work imaginable comparable only to that of very experienced two man recon teams." All present were more then aware of Kakashi's past and how focused he was on team work, going back to his time as a Genin and his time, as an ANBU Captain.

It was then that Gai of all people spoke up serious in tone a very race occurrence for the boisterous man, "What exactly have you been putting them through Kakashi?"

Even for an old friend and rival Kakashi only sighed before saying, "I'm sorry Gai, but I'm afraid of what you would all think of me if I told you the truth." he would never tell them, but the pain both physically and mentally, that Kakashi had put them through so that they would be a successful two man Genin team would probably be consider tortuous even by Ibiki's standards.

"Just because they are well trained Kakashi, does not mean I will not stop working tirelessly on finding a replacement for the lost team mate." The old man looked down at the files on his desk, each were Genin who were either unavailable for a team at their time of graduation or had been involved in other programs. One such Genin was a small Pale boy who had an unusual skill of being able to use ink as a weapon, he was a near perfect fit for the recovering Team 7, though he wouldn't be added until he got approval from Danzo's root program.

* * *

The meeting having ended, Kakashi quickly went to find his team who he noticed were on their way back to the Haruno household probably to rest and get ready for supper. Suddenly the Jounin appeared before the two Genin who seemed ecstatic to see him, "It's official, you are both entered into the Chuunin Exams!"

Sakura could only smile widely and laughed a bit in excitement, though Naruto jumped for joy, "Yes! Another step closer towards my goal of becoming Hokage is on the way!" Sakura simply looked at her team mate in adoration as she watched his excitement, however her thoughts had begun to get the better of her as they had started to do more often as of late.

_'He seems so cute when he gets excited like that, I really miss it…Naruto-Kun.'_ a smile seemed to have unknowingly spread across her face as that was nearly all she could think about.

This moment of inner happiness was right when her other self had decided to emerge to give her opinion on the situation as she often had, _**'Oh Naruto-'kun' is it now?' **_The mini her had remarked at in her head, _**'hehe, Now when did this happen?'**_

Hissing Sakura answered harshly, _**'As if you don't know!'**_

Inner Sakura immediate raged out towards her self, _'Of course I don't' know it's not like I can read your….oh I hate you…'_ As inner Sakura steamed Sakura quickly closed out the link to Naruto talking to her.

"Are you okay Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked concerned at her sudden inability to answer.

"Oh yes, I'm fine Naruto-kun." Sakura's eyes quickly shot open at her accidental adding of the suffix, causing her to blush immediately. One of which Naruto returned as well however not pressing his luck he simply led them to the door holding it open for her as he usually did.

* * *

Far from Naruto and Sakura in a hidden lair a certain Snake like Sannin was not in a happy mood from the information that he had learned, "Sasuke's dead? And he had been for how long!"

"I'm sorry Lord Orochimaru, there were developments that I had to check first before I sent you any kind of information!" the grey haired teen quickly bowed hoping for the rare mercy of his master.

"It better be good, Kabuto…"

Chapter 2: Gaara From the Sand!


	2. Chapter 2: Gaara of The Sand Arrives!

Team Kakashi

Part 1

Chapter 2: Gaara Of the Sand Arrives!

* * *

Kakashi had given the two a week off for the first time in a long time and both Naruto and Sakura were sort of at a loss as in what to do for the week. Naruto had at first suggested that he fix up his apartment and try to move out to be less of a burden, this immediately warranted two knocks on the head one Haruno each. He could at least say he learned one thingy today, and that was where she had gotten that quick temper from.

On the flip side, Naruto was glad they didn't want him to leave, for one, he actually had a family now, people to come to everyday after training or when doing errands. Quiet honestly he even felt love from the Elder Haruno, and he felt his own love for Sakura grow with everyday he spent with her.

It was during this time of reflection when he had noticed something they had spent almost every minute together since the Wave mission. And every time Naruto would attempt to leave to give her space, or converse with Ino she'd do the same thing. Grab Naruto's arm, hand, shirt, anything that would keep him still. "Sakura-chan…." His own thoughts had almost caused him to drop the dishes he was bringing to the sink.

"Naruto!" Sakura's annoyed shout had the intended effect and brought Naruto out of the deep thoughts he was having and into the face of a certain pink haired innocently Naruto laughed, "Sorry Sakura-chan I guess I kinda zoned out there for a second!"

Smiling at the display Sakura simply nodded, "You've been doing that a lot lately Naruto." She had noticed that since she accidentally added the 'kun' suffix he had been out there a lot more recently, at first rage filled her, thinking he had been thinking perverted things, though this went away quickly as he never looked like Kakashi did giggling or had that perverted smile.

So instead of thinking it was something like that she determined it had to be the Chuunin Exams, "Are you nervous about the Chuunin Exams?" Sakura curiously questioned.

"Hmm? Oh it's not anything like that, Sakura-Chan. I know that you and me, we are going to beat down each and everyone one of those Genin." Naruto had been so into his small little speech that he had dropped one of the plates on his uncovered toe crashing into pieces.

The obvious result was an angry and somewhat humored, Elder Haruno and a less then happy younger one, who now had the choice of cleaning the mess or Naruto, and to his surprise chose him of the two. After the silent victory dance inside his head declaring himself the winner against his epic battle against the plate of doom he quietly followed Sakura into the bathroom.

'_The blood flow seems to be steady'_, Sakura thought a little surprised in fact that two plate had landed so directly. Taking a washcloth and some peroxide she got the blood off and cleaned the wound of any infection, however she noticed a piece of the plate was still in his toe, how hadn't he noticed?

Reaching down she tugged lightly on it removing the plate and gasped as to what she saw next, the wound searing itself together as if he had some kind of regenerative ability. It was like nothing she had ever seen, definitely something she'd ask Kakashi sensei about sometime soon.

Her thoughts were cut short however to do the blonde that her thoughts were about, "Everything okay, Sakura-Chan?" he asked a look of curiousness on his face.

Normally she would have said something simple and just been done with it, but something more etched out of her, "Well other then the second toe growing out of the wound you'll be fine, I'll have to cut it off though," To make sure it stock she kept stoic and brandished a kunai.

Naruto's eyes literally budged out of his head, "WHAT?" he immediately looked down to his foot to see nothing wrong not even a cut from where he'd seen her clean up the blood. "Real funny Sakura-chan!" he quickly crossed his arms and pouted in her direction and mumbled something about he being the prankster.

It was after that morning and into the afternoon that the two decided sitting at home reading was getting boring, even Sakura who had loved reading felt a sudden disdain for doing it all morning. The duo had decided to go and spend time with their best friends the Ino-Shika-Cho squad. As if the powers of the universe had combined to decree that they should be bored, they went to Ino's house only to find that the team had left for the week for a team only training trip.

When asked why Ino hadn't told her, it was because she didn't even know till the morning they left. As the two were once more walking through Konoha Sakura looked up and angrily shook her fist, "Damn you universe!" As Sakura fumed Naruto could only watch in amusement, noting all the new quirks he had seen in her lately. Not that he had minded in the least bit, in fact to him, it had made her all the more better.

Naruto deciding that he would try to make the situation better quietly apologized to his Gama-chan, (his wallet frog thingy O_o), "Sakura-chan! How about we go to the Hot Springs on me?" His grin only widened at the ecstatic look on Sakura's face.

"Really Naruto!" Her face beamed at him, she hadn't gone in so long and even with the discount for Shinobi it was still rather expensive deciding not to test it any further however she ushered him back home faster then they were going before. "Come on Naruto we gotta hurry so we can change!"

Naruto could only nod and manage an unnoticeable, "Okay Sakura-chan" however before he could repeat what he said to hopefully slow her down they were already back and Sakura was in her room within seconds.

Knowing that Sakura would likely go through every bikini she had Naruto could take his time in going up to get his own trunks. However the thought of Sakura trying on several bathing suits was a strain for Naruto thinking of all the things that she could possibly be trying on.

Noticing that he had simply been standing in the Hall way for over five minutes now Naruto rushed himself to his room and simply grabbed a pair of trunks and put them on. He had hoped Sakura hadn't notice him simply standing there with the pleasure filled look he had on his face moments ago.

Before he could dwell on it any deeper however Sakura's door opened revealing her in her normal attire, "Where's your bathing suit at Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked confused as if they were no longer going.

Sighing Sakura quickly answer, "Naruto, I'm a girl and girl's just can't walk around the village in their bathing suits, it's very unbecoming and frankly it'd be weird." Sakura smiled as she finished grabbing Naruto's arm to pull him in front of her, "So are you going to take off your headband at least so you don't get it wet?" Sakura asked sweetly

"Ya know I never thought of that." Naruto pondered for a second how he could have forgotten the obvious weight on his head, though he supposed it was from being so used to it.

Going back to his room with Sakura right behind him he took off his headband which had by reflex activated his Sharingan, though he still couldn't find anything else to use without having to rip up a shirt that Mrs. Haruno had bought him, something he'd prefer not to do. "Well Sakura-chan I simply can't find anything…" His voice was disappointed he really didn't want to have to get his Headband wet again it was always so hard to keep dry.

"Are you sure about that Naruto?" Sakura was obviously hiding something, and Naruto with Sharingan activated could quickly tell, "Did you find something?"

"Nope." Sakura answered nicely, "I already had something for you." Smiling he pulled from behind her back the small ribbon that she had worn as a child, that likely would have been long enough for Naruto to wear around his eye.

"Wow thanks Sakura-chan!" Naruto beamed at the idea that Sakura was giving him something simply out of the niceness in her heart and it made him look all the more forward to spending time with her at the Springs.

"Naruto.' Sakura said nearly a whisper but he had heard it, "This ribbon is probably one of the most important things in the world to me." her voice growing even more serious as she gently tied it around the back of his head.

"Oh I'll make sure to give it back to you Sakura-chan, when we get back." He'd smiled and gave her a thumbs up, then began to turn to walk out before Sakura grabbed him by the arm pulling him back.

"That's not what I meant, Naruto." she smiled to herself as she contemplated what she promised to herself that she was going to say, "I meant, that you are more important to me then that ribbon, so I want you to have it." Before Naruto could say anything else, she had wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug with no intent on letting go until she was ready.

* * *

An hour had passed by the time they had reached the Hot Springs but looking back Naruto wouldn't complain, since Sakura was so intent on holding him, he returned the favor, and they had stood their simply holding each for what seemed like forever. Now occasionally the two would try to steal glances at each other, neither one aware of the other.

They didn't need to worry much longer however as once they had entered the Springs all that was their was the three of them. Of course the first two had no idea of the third….

Naruto hadn't bothered with a towel as he quickly descended into the warm relaxing waters of the Hot Spring and leaned against a near by wall. Sakura however was a little more conservative walking along the path towards Naruto and took her towel off and folded it at the edge before slowly sliding in.

Naruto honestly couldn't decide what he liked more, when she took her towel off, or when she slowly dipped herself into the water next to him. He had to admit all their extra training with Kakashi had effected both of them greatly, he was able to control his chakra better, and had managed to get a lot more overall definition throughout his body. Something he was rather proud of.

It was something that Sakura had certainly noticed as she had been thinking similar thoughts on how the two had changed both mentally and physically. She of course at the moment was thinking of the second, all the intense training had certainly taken care of its share of baby fat and turned his body in something else.

However Sakura felt like she had done just as well, though in the academy she was known for brains not brawn her own underdeveloped body was attempting to work double time from all the new stress. In the past couple of months her body had developed a little wider and gained not necessarily more weight but her body had looked better and she started to fill out a little more on top, as others in her class, Ino and Hinata, already had.

Almost purposely the two looked at each other at the same time both blushing madly as they scooted a little closer to each other. A look of curiosity on both faces as they near each other, Naruto instinctively had place his arm around Sakura, who wrapped hers around his waist. Just as their faces slowly began to get closer to each other, a small giggle began to erupt and Naruto's hearing kicked up into high gear.

Neither one slowed down however and their lips connected softly and a little off certain, but understandable considering it was their first kiss. Whether it was the heat from the springs of simply the intensity of emotions the kiss quickly deepened into what would be their first moment of expressing their feelings as growing teens. However just as Naruto had lifted Sakura out of the water and onto the stone around the Springs a louder giggle attracted the attention of Naruto's hearing as well as Sakura's this time.

The result was both Naruto and Sakura dashing toward the wall and effectively kicking it down, the two were extremely embarrassed and angry at whoever as peeping in on them. At that moment in time a groan escaped the lips of the large grey headed man beneath the wall who could only mumble something underneath the wall, "Can't breath." was all that they could discern.

After the two had reluctantly stepped off of the wall they were staring at the man with daggers for eyes. Naruto had immediately begun to berate the man for his lack of decency in spying on the two of them for whatever pervy reasons he could come up with. Sakura had stayed quiet to hopefully find out if she knew the man or if he was even from their village.

Sakura had gasped when coming into sight of his headband, "Naruto! I know who this is!" her face paled her at first, they had just attacked and insulted one of the three strongest shinobi in the world, a Sannin.

Quickly grabbing Naruto and pulling him away from the Sanin she went on speaking, "This is Jiraiya, one of the three Legendary students of the Third Hokage." she watched as Naruto's eyes lit up and Jiraiya's pride seemed abundantly clear.

"So the Old man's student is a pervert!" Naruto exclaimed a little loudly especially for their public setting, "I guess it makes sense cause the old man is a pervert as well." Naruto sighed, he loved the old man, but he was indeed one that was for sure, he had the jutsu to prove it.

Jiraiya's ears burned a bit at being called a pervert in comparison to his own teacher, "Haha, so I see you two know who I am, however blonde knucklehead, you are very wrong to assume me a pervert!" His voice slowly raised the further into his proclamation he went.

Sakura sighed a relief when the man said that he was not a pervert, it must have just been an accident that he had walked by and laughed of something. "See Naruto no big deal."

Just as Sakura said that however Jiraiya had continued his loud speech, "Oh you're wrong, pinky, it is a very big deal, Because I am not just a regular pervert! I'M JIRAIYA THE SUPER PERVERT! And writer extraordinaire, author of the famous Icha, Icha books."

Both Naruto and Sakura had feel over instantly, thinking simultaneously, _'So this is the guy that writes those books Kakashi-sensei reads all the time.' _It was at this point that both had promised themselves they would never allow the other to know that they keep a copy underneath their mattress for safe keeping.

Naruto being the first one to grab ahold of his sanity quickly looked at the Sanin, "Well I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the next Hokage!"

Jiraiya flinched but just for a second, _'So this, is Minato's Legacy and just like the reports him and his team mate have injured eyes. But I wonder how far it goes with Naruto because of his host.'_

It had been a week since the ordeal at the Hot Springs and although they hadn't seen Jiraiya since then they were sure he was still in Konoha, after all it was time for the Chuunin Exams. During that week Naruto and Sakura had been around each other just as much as possible many of the village assuming the two to be steady going, but the rest just thought it was the comfort of having your other team mate always with you.

When the two thought about it they were both right, on the one hand, it was no secret that Sakura was developing feelings for Naruto especially since the Hot Springs. And Naruto of course being who he is had been out for Sakura for years. Then there was the other argument, since they were not techniquely together they didn't have to spend so much time with each other. They had spent so much time together however because they both felt safe as long as they were with one another.

* * *

What they hadn't expected next was to see Konohamaru held up by the scruff of his neck by some strange cat looking man. Naruto was the first to react having thought of the boy as a little brother, "Put Konohamaru down, now!" Anger dripped off every word as he stared at the boy who seemed a little older then him noticing immediately his painted face and the large thing attached to his back.

The painted boy only laughed and snarled out a quick, "Make me." an answer to which the taller girl behind him scoffed and turned her head in disappointment.

Sighing she looked at her brother, "Come on Kankuro, we shouldn't be late for Gaara you know how he gets."

"Don't worry Temari, it shouldn't take long to deal with these punks." Kankuro laughed as he dropped Konohamaru on the ground who scurried behind Naruto.

Naruto's eyes went wide as he suddenly felt a spike of Killer Intent coming off a near by tree, turning before anyone else had even noticed, "And who are you?" Naruto's glare doubled in veracity as he looked at the boy hanging on the tree upside down.

To say Gaara was shocked was an understatement but no less he had been seen by this Konoha shinobi, someone that mother would like as he inwardly smiled. "Kankuro ,Temari lets go." His voice was void of life and sounded as lifeless as if he was a moving corpse.

While the others behind him were at a stand still from the Killer Intent Gaara had been sending off Naruto simply walked behind the trio, "What's your name?" Temari thinking the boy was kind of cute and must have been strong if he was able to sense Gaara immediately turned voicing out, "Who meee?" She said sweetly hoping to garner the boy's attention more.

"No I already no your name Temari. I mean the shorter guy with the Gourd on his back." His voice though not angry was intensely curious.

Though Temari had blushed that the boy knew her name she stayed quiet not wanting to get in Gaara's way.

"My name is Gaara Sabaku." he paused for a moment and looked to his sister musingly, "What is your name?" Gaara's voice as lifeless as he had shown before.

Naruto could only smirk at the question, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, The Next Hokage!" His voice was full of confidence as he exclaimed the last point out.

As the trio turned to leave Naruto watched them noticing that Temari would occasionally look back at Naruto to see if he was still watching, or maybe trying to get a few last looks at Naruto.

Sakura had remained quiet during the ordeal making sure Konohamaru and his Squad were okay, after all not most kids have to deal with strong ninja like that scarring them. When she looked up she could see that Naruto was in another set of mind and it was bothering her, "Naruto are you okay?" Sakura had reached up and extended an arm to Naruto's grabbing a hold of his hand to make sure he was there.

Naruto was immediately thrust out of his thoughts as he felt the contact from Sakura's hand blushing immediately, "OH I'm fine Sakura-chan I was just thinking…" knowing that Konohamaru would never let him hear the end of it he quickly turned to walk towards where the Exams were taking place.

Sakura quickly followed making sure to keep up with Naruto, after having been with him for the past few months, and how he'd tell her everything, the only times he wouldn't was when it pertained to his past, or was something dangerous. _'For his sake, I hope it's not dangerous.'_

The two had managed to make it up past the Genjutsu floor, neither one mentioning it, obviously if none of the others had noticed it, "They're not ready yet." Sakura whispered to no one in particular, but it seemed Naruto agreed as he nodded in confirmation.

After climbing the last flight of stairs they entered a somewhat open room in which the assumed was where they needed to go. However as they entered a Green Clad Shinobi had jumped in front of them extremely fast.

"Sakura-chan! I am here to make a proposition for you in the name of YOOUTHFUL Flames that burn inside me." Rock Lee as if looking at himself from the third person deemed that he could do no wrong and that he would achieve his goal of asking Sakura out. "Will you be my girlfriend!"

Before Sakura could say no Naruto stepped in front of her as if to tell Lee to back off, "I don't think she's interested. So excuse us." Naruto was containing himself not to immediately jump the Jumpsuit wearing shinobi.

"So instead of letting her answer, the Dead Last instead chooses to run away?" Lee hated resorting to taunting but he needed to size up his competition both for the Chuunin Exams and of Sakura-chan's heart.

Just as it had been with Sasuke the usage of that term was always a sore spot and Naruto turned around, in anger to which he gave in, he matched the Genin's style as he waited for the first move, something that would normally have been made by him.

Lee was not sure how to react, from everything he had heard and remember of the Genin he should of simply charged in blindly which he would easily dispose of.

Naruto picked up on Lee's confusion quickly and decided to take advantage of that, by rushing in just as Lee expected him to. Once he did so he stopped just before reaching lee and dashed over to his right where he quickly made a small squad of Shadow Clones. Four in total each surrounded Lee who was in a defensive stance waiting as all the clones quickly charged in at him.

Ready to start blocking the attacks Lee watched as all four clones simply jumped up into the air before he could attack them. What Lee hadn't expected however was that the real Naruto had jumped with his clones and they had thrown him back down towards Lee with twice the moment going for a quick knock out.

Luckily though Lee had looked up noticing that he was going to be taken out immediately by the impact if he hadn't moved, and thankfully due to his amazing speed he shot out of harms way with little time to spare. He felt back however after the dust cleared, Naruto surely would have been extremely hurt, "I am sorry for goading you to fight Naruto-kun but I had to see if I was stronger then you, and it appears I have won."

Lee was shocked to see however that the body in the small crater was not Naruto's as it puffed into smoke as the dust cleared. Lee, turned his body around as quickly as he could only to see that Gai-sensei had appeared and was holding Naruto mid air in a kick aimed for the Green Glad's Shinobi's head. "Lee I'm sorely disappointed in you for being the cause of this and as my duty as a teacher I'm sure I have failed so to make up for this I will run one hundred laps around Konoha while teaching you at the same time what I have done wrong!"

Feeling inspired by his teacher Lee awed, "Gai-Sensei! For failing you I will run those hundred laps on my hands!"

"LEE!" Gai quickly called back at him as the two held each other in an odd hug, on a seemingly mysterious beach background that appeared out of no where. The sun was setting and a large wave hit a near by rock spraying the two with clear ocean water only adding to the….uniqueness to the occasion.

No longer wanting any part of that the two Genin had found their chance to head through the doors to a sight in which neither one expected to see. Surrounding the room were some of the roughest meanest looking Shinobi either one of them had seen, but neither of them showed their anxiousness as they saw a small group of whom appeared to be their graduating class.

Hurrying themselves over to them the Rookie 8 as someone mentioned causing Naruto and Sakura to flinch visibly began to talk about their expectations of the Exams. The other six admitted that they were unsure how this was going to go in any point of view, but they had wished they knew some info on the people around them. At least some important points like skills and abilities.

Sighing as they had access to none of this the team started a light conversation on their past month of training and missions, Naruto and Sakura being the quieter of the group seeing as how they were not allowed to attend missions until after the Chuunin Exams. As the mood seemed to go down Shikamaru decided to help lighten it up, "Since you two are paired with Kakashi as a sensei does that mean you get a special nickname now?"

Confused the others asked, "Like what?" None of them understanding the irony of the situation.

"Well Kakashi has the Sharingan, and now these two do." Everyone had seemed to understand what he meant now but what could they be called, "How about Team Sharingan?"

They knew the cloud watching boy was not being serious which caused the group to laugh happily cheering them all up greatly. Naruto understood what he was doing and mouthed a thanks to which Shikamaru just waved a hand at.

Though before anything else happened the large wall in the back immediately burst open as a hidden door and behind it was Ibiki the head of Interrogation of Konohagakure. He had then started his speech about Chuunin and how no matter the circumstances they could not reveal any information to the enemy no matter the pain they went through as long as it kept the village safe.

Many of the students gasped and dry heaved after his display of the scars that adorned his head and why he wore the bulky trench coat, to hide the scars and damage of past interrogation used on him. As soon as he explained the rules of the First Exam many looked at the test in wonder, the questions been far beyond anything that most of them had seen. Very few other then Shikamaru and Sakura would know the answers to these, and Naruto knew this for a fact, so instead of worrying about the test he simply used his Sharingan to imitate the writing of Sakura who quickly noticed what he was doing, _'Good thinking Naruto-kun' _She smiled to herself catching again that she had called him by that same suffix.

After nearly the entire class had been kicked out for cheating less then maybe thirty teams remained. Ibiki had then stood up in front of the class to give out his final question, "Before I give out the final question I would like to add a new stipulation to it, any of you that miss this question will never be able to take the Chuunin Exams again and will remain a Genin for the rest of your lives."

Many left in the room gasped in shock and listened intently, "However, if you choose to leave now then you can come back another time to try and retake the test again."

Many of the class had begun to raise up to leave one of those teams had been one that Naruto spoke in the waiting room, and determined that they were a good Shinobi group and could pass.

This angered him greatly that the older Ninja would pry into the minds of the Genin to try and scare them off, standing up Naruto slammed his hand on the table, "If you think we're going to give up that easy, you've got another thing coming, you may be able to scare some of these other Shinobi off but you wont get me that easy." Naruto laughed as he had the attention of the whole room at this point.

"Who do you think you are talking to me like that?" Ibiki snarled towards the Genin giving him an evil glare.

This caused Naruto to grin even more, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and I am going to be the next Hokage! So you'll have to do more then that to scare me, even if I do fail this test, I'll be the first Genin to become Hokage, because nothing is going to stop me from reaching my goal!"

All the groups who had stand up to leave quickly went back to their seats awaiting the final question many of whom were now looking at Naruto in adoration, two girls in particular were one in happiness and the other in shock and surprise.

"_Naruto, I think you really will do it. And I'll do everything I can to help you." _The pink haired Shinobi smiled as she looked over at Naruto feeling a strange warm sensation in the pit of her stomach. Though it made her a little sick, for some reason she liked it, and figured it had to do something with Naruto. And oddly enough she was more right then she thought, for her feelings of Naruto were not the only thing causing that feeling but something else was at work here.

The other girl was slightly more unexpected she herself couldn't even believe that she was now adoring Naruto because of his strong emotions, '_What caused this change in Naruto, Sakura?" _The blue eyed blonde thought to herself watching as all the others including herself seemed inspired by his words to try even harder.

However the revel was cut short by Ibiki, who said, "Well then I guess there is only one thing left to do." Ibiki sighed looking down as if it was a disappointing trial, "You all pass!" He rose his head up smiling as he looked at the dumbfounded and relieved faces of the Genin around. Gathering information is one of the most important parts of being a Shinobi, but not giving up even more important, and you all seem to have it in spades."

"Now your next proctor for the second test will be-" Before Ibiki could finish a loud boom was heard and a banner and woman came flying in through the window. Her banner read, "ANKO MITARASHI! Special Jounin and Sexy Proctor for the Second Exam!" Many of the boys in the class were instantly eyeballing her less then covering outfit though the creepy smile she gave the class scared most of them from continuing it.

"Listen up Maggots!" Her voice was booming throughout the room reminding them all of Naruto, "Meet me at Training Ground 44 in an hour, and be ready for your lives to be put on the line!"

Ibiki looked over the Banner, "You were ten minutes early, Anko!"

"Sorry guess I just couldn't help it, I'm anxious to get rid of these brats." Taking in a moment she noticed the large number of Genin sitting in the class, "You seem to be losing your touch Ibiki."

"Ha-ha, it wasn't me Anko, you can thank the blonde brat for that." He finger pointing in the direction of Naruto as he smiled almost fox like at the Taller Sex like figure.

"Well guess I better lighten the mood, After my Exam less then half of you will have failed or died." many in the group who were proud to have made it past the first exam were quickly unnerved by her comment, many looking toward Naruto for a reaction, who seemed to be smiling.

Though everyone consider that to be strange they took it as a note that they should keep their heads up In the next exam and be ready.

* * *

When Naruto and Sakura were home they both decided it was time for Naruto to change around his wardrobe, the bright orange he may like but in this next Exam it may hinder the only two man group in the exam. "What am I going to do Sakura-chan? I don't know what else I could wear. I don't really have much else."

Sakura smiled and pulled a bag of clothes out from behind her back, "That's why I went and bought you some, Naruto." She pulled out a pair of black pants that resembled his other ones but had a stripe on the side that was half red and half orange. "That was the only colors they had it in, hope you don't mind." She lied but only because she didn't want him to know that she had purposely paid extra to get the color added on such short notice.

The shirt was much more different in that it was not bulky as his other one had been, nor did it have the shorter sleeves that only reached his wrist. They went all the way to his hands as a jacket should and for the true purpose it was very dark, being mostly black other then the redish orange stripe that started at each shoulder and went all the way to his wrists. Taking Naruto's head band off Sakura offered him another one that was black.

Naruto didn't know how to express how happy he was that he had gotten so much from the girl he had basically been in love with. So he just wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tightly causing both to blush as Sakura's mom had come in at just that moment.

Seeing the gifts in Naruto's hand she understood and smiled as she said just loud enough for the two to hear, "Ah young love." However what they hadn't known was she did it on purpose to embarrass the two.

The two who were now scarlet from Sakura's mother, were almost speechless until Naruto decided to go for it, "Sakura-chan, we still have half an hour left if you want to head over to Ichiruka's for some quick lunch." His blush was still there as he waited for Sakura's answer.

"Sounds great Naruto" Let me go get my pack so we can head straight over to the forest afterwards.

Naruto nodded as he did the same making sure to change as well now, since they were heading straight over to the Training Ground for the next Exam, after they had finished eating.

* * *

As Naruto and Sakura ate at Ichiruka's they both had a strange sensation in their stomachs as they couldn't seem to stop looking at each other, both of them with auras so bright and happy that Ayame and the Old man noticed right away.

Ayame seeing the two slowly eating and concentrating more on each other decided to play with the two, "So Naruto-'kun'" She made sure to add the kun in order to see Sakura's reaction, "How long have you two been seeing each other?"

The question nearly caused Naruto to choke on his noodles and Sakura blushed deeply both from the question and because what she called Naruto by, _**'Doesn't she know he's ours!' **_Inner Sakura was furious at the display and looking closer she noticed that Ayame was even close to Naruto.

"Well I guess that's a no then." Ayame's smile was devious as she then winked at Naruto, "My Naruto-kun you look so much older now in those new clothes, did you get them? Or did Sakura?"

Naruto's voice was very light as he audibly said, "Sakura-chan got them for me." He didn't quiet know how to react in the situation and was afraid of anything he might say maybe wrong.

Sakura who was flushed in both anger and embarrassment quickly grabbed Naruto and headed out of the stand holding on to his hand tightly. Though this caused Naruto to blush even more he wasn't going to complain.

A smile adorned Ayame's face as her mission was accomplished, "Won't be long now, before those two are together."

"Probably not." A voice said off to the side, through a small black mask covering the bottom part of his mask.

"Kakashi, don't tell me you were spying on the young couple to be." Ayame said with a smile.

"Of course, not it just brought back some old memories of a team mate of mine, that I sorely miss." Ayame had realized what Kakashi was talking about, herself being in her mid-twenties she'd heard about Rin, going M.I.A years ago, and how it had crushed Kakashi as he had finally begun to return the feelings for the girl.

Though she was interested in the grey haired young man, she couldn't see herself in a relationship with him, or any Shinobi for that matter. The life style was just far too much to push onto her, and she didn't think that her heart would be able to take it honestly. "Don't worry Kakashi, Naruto-kun, once he finds something he loves, he'll never let go."

Kakashi smiled knowingly, "I hope so, because right now, there all the other has now, that loss is something that is impossible to make it out alone."

"You did." Ayame said smiling.

* * *

As Naruto and Sakura had finally made it to Training Ground 44 Sakura had yet to release Naruto's hand. When Naruto made an attempt to pull his hand away incase Sakura had forgot and didn't want to be caught by the others holding his hand, she simply squeezed his hand so that he couldn't let go.

"Don't let go Naruto-kun…." Sakura's voice was still a whisper even though they were probably far out of anyone's ear shot at the Exam.

Naruto could only look at her wide eyed before he squeezed back, "I won't Sakura-chan….ever." Naruto's voice was filled with devotion as he looked into Sakura's eyes. Reaching up with his other hand so he wouldn't have to let go of her hand he cupped her cheek causing a blush to cover her face but now she didn't seem to care in fact she embraced his hand rubbing her cheek against it.

It was then that a kunai came flying past the two nicking both their cheeks and before they could react Anko was standing behind Sakura. As a small drop of blood rolled down her cheek Anko extended a tongue out and licked up the single drop of blood off her cheek. "Cute girlfriend you have their Brat." Anko smirked at her actions as she saw the blonde's wide eyes and could only assume that Sakura had the same look.

The rest of the Genin around were surprised as well aside from the team from Kusa, of Grass Country.

After another attempt to scare the group by Anko telling them that not only did they have to worry about other Shinobi Teams, but that they were deadly creatures that inhabited the Forest of Death this had worried many of the Genin, though none had left. After her last scare the Exam had begun both Naruto and Sakura were determined to show how much they had improved since leaving the Academy. Both had a lot to prove considering no one had heard of anything they had done since making it back from the mission in Wave.

Deciding on their strategy finding the other teams from Konoha and working together seemed like their best option. Both naturally wanted to find Team 9 because of their close friends Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji were all part of it. Another thing they agreed on was to try their best to avoid the team from Suna, they had no idea of the strength they had, but if the killing intent of the boy was any hint, he was likely the strongest Genin in the exams.

It seems however they would have bigger problems to deal with as a large blast of wind suddenly blasted by the two causing the two, to have to dive to the side. "What the hell was that!" Naruto shouted as he jumped up on to his feet to survey what had just happened.

It was then that the two noticed who was standing at the beginning of that attack, "it's that woman from Kusa!" Naruto had hoped to shout it out in order to alert Sakura.

Quickly Sakura rose up and dashed next to Naruto so that they could make a stand for the fight, "Where are your team mates?" Sakura had noticed the woman came alone and it worried her they may ambush them soon.

"Kukukuku….." The woman's laugh had greatly unnerved the two as they waited her answer, "Their dead, they no longer served any use for me it seemed."

Both Genin were shocked by the answer and afraid of what she may do to them, if she had killed her team so carelessly. Thinking quickly Sakura tossed a small barrage of Kunai to try and distract the foreign Genin.

Naruto reacted as well jumping into the air while performing hand signs, "Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" He had hoped that the surprise of such a strong jutsu would catch the woman off guard, ending the battle quickly.

They would have no such luck though as they heard the creepy laugh once more, "Kukukuku, very good Naruto-Kun you are much more skilled then before your mission to Wave. Why is that?"

Naruto was having a difficult time answering however as he had noticed half of the woman's face was peeling off as if it wasn't real skin. "Oh I'm sorry, is this bothering you?" Smiling deviously she began to pull at the excess skin revealing an entirely new pale face underneath, one with slit eyes and in all aspects was almost identical to that of a snake.

"However Naruto-kun despite your progress." The voice of the man they assumed was different however not in a good way as it had now been even scarier then it was before. "You are not my intended target." He had then changed his focus to that of Sakura, "Your pink haired friend however is."

* * *

Next Time

Chapter 3: Forest of Death Woes and Curse marks.


	3. Chapter: AN

A/N

* * *

Uzumaki here. This is simply an announcement, the next chapter will be out in a few days. And it will be even longer then the last. However I have a few things i need to take care of.

I've received a complaint of plagurism from someone who didnt even write the story but it is called, Team Sharingan. Now I had not read the story prior, and I would have been quiet embarrassed had I named my story the same. I almost did at one point but thought it too cliche.

First of all let me direct your attention towards, viperbyte. A.K.A the person who complained. I had never read the story you mentioned, but after your review I looked it up and read the first chapter, aside from it being during the mission at Wave and Kakashi doing the transplant I really see no other similairities? I only read the first two chapters, but I see nothing in commom with my own story. SOO unless you can't point somethign out that appears to have been directly derrived from that story then, please give I suppose MY attempt at a similar storyline a try.

I'm sorry for the waste of your alls time as reader to read my annoying rant, but i did not want people to read a review that reflected badly on me or called me a plagurist, that would affect me as an author and probably sabotage any attempt of me actually making this story popular, which was what I had hoped to achieve.

For those of you who DO like my writing, i would like to point out, that i will be making a new story soon I have already begun writing it, the storyline is that in his battle with Sasuke, Sakura intervened saving Naruto from a cheap shot but ultimately killing herself. In his rage Naruto kills Sasuke and when he returns home a civil war breaks out of Danzo supporters and Tsunade's. How will this conflict end? And who will bring Naruto out of his spiral of depression. Sometimes it takes two blondes make things alright. NaruxIno.

But I need some time and motivation to get started on that one. I may update this weekly and inbetween do the new story. If anyone has suggestions i'd love to have them. :)

Thanks for letting me waste your time but dont worry I'll make it worth your while.


	4. Chapter 3 & 4: Double Stuffed!

Team Kakashi

Part 1

Chapter 3: Forest of Death Woes and Curse marks.

* * *

They would have no such luck though as they heard the creepy laugh once more, "Kukukuku, very good Naruto-Kun you are much more skilled then before your mission to Wave. Why is that?"

Naruto was having a difficult time answering however as he had noticed half of the woman's face was peeling off as if it wasn't real skin. "Oh I'm sorry, is this bothering you?" Smiling deviously she began to pull at the excess skin revealing an entirely new pale face underneath, one with slit eyes and in all aspects was almost identical to that of a snake.

"However Naruto-kun despite your progress." The voice of the man they assumed was different however not in a good way as it had now been even scarier then it was before. "You are not my intended target." He had then changed his focus to that of Sakura, "Your pink haired friend however is."

_Flashback _

"_So Kabuto, what is the news that had to wait for you to inform me?" Orochimaru's voice was greatly annoyed as he waited for Kabuto to explain his side of the story._

"_Well, sir, what I have learned is that after the Uchiha's death, Kakashi transplanted each of the Uchiha's eyes into Naruto and Sakura." Kabuto finished after reading from a note pad that had all of his notes written._

"_Hmmm he gave them both the Sharingan?" Orochimaru questioned his findings._

"_Yes, Lord Orochimaru, I managed to sneak into one of their training sessions and she has use of up to the second level, already." Kabuto added._

"_I see, her excellent chakra control must help her usage of it. She is probably more skilled with it then even the Kyuubi Container." Thinking for a few moments the Snake Sanin developed a plan._

"_We will use Sasuke's seal on her instead, since she has the Sharingan maybe we can find a way in which to add it's DNA to her own, creating a little Uchiha clan of our own." Orochimaru's smile was sinister enough that it had even bothered the framed face of Kabuto._

"_What of the Container, Orochimaru?" Kabuto questioned, "Wouldn't he be a more suitable choice with his regenerative abilities the his amazing chakra capacity?" In truth Kabuto was right, Naruto would have been the obvious choice._

"_His loyalty to the village is strong though I'm sure with a few pushes it could be broken, though that is not the reason I have not chosen him." The Snake Master hissed as he continued, "But that damned fox in his belly would destroy me if I ever tried the transfer, such a waste of power, the curse seal wouldn't even work on him if I could place it on him." The conversation was quickly angering the Snake Sanin as Kabuto bowed to excuse himself._

_End Flashback_

"So Naruto-kun will you back out of my way? Or will I need to kill you?" Orochimaru's voice was filled with killer intent as he stared at the growling boy.

Naruto's facial expression changed to fear but only for a second, but not for his own life, but Sakura's. His jaw tightly clenched he looked up at the Snake like man before snarling, "If you go anywhere near Sakura-chan, I'll kill you!"

Not leaving any time for the Sanin to answer Naruto immediately formed his most familiar jutsu, "SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" immediately a hundred Naruto appeared before the Sanin all kunai withdrawn ready to charge.

Immediately Orochimaru began to prepare for defense as the clones started to come after him taking his time with the clones he used his superior speed and strength to use their own attacks against the. After one clone had attempted a kick at the Sanin's head he simply caught it's leg in mid air and using his speed for momentum spun around throwing the clone at a group of clones dispelling them.

Naruto could quickly tell that this was going to be a harder fight then he expected, moving his hand up to his forehead he pulled the headband back activating his Sharingan immediately. Sharingan now active Naruto charged in with the near fifty clones he had left to try and overwhelm him, with everything he had. But it seemed that it wouldn't be enough because as he and his clones charged a large snake appeared taking out almost all of his clones.

The snake was charging now for Naruto until a barrage of kunai with exploding tags attached barraged the side of it's face, courtesy of one Sakura Haruno. Her own Sharingan active they immediately took side by side stances. "Ready Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked before making his assault.

Sakura nodded and swiftly they both disappeared running at Orochimaru from different sides. Orochimaru had not been fooled however and after jumping over the two he appeared on Naruto's side sending a swift kick to his abdomen in which Naruto shifted his body and blocked the kick with his knee only sliding a few feet away. Running to the man Naruto swung a hard right hand towards the face of Orochimaru which was immediately dodged and returned with his own punch towards Naruto's mid section. Luckily Naruto threw a hand down avoiding the punch and throwing the snake Sanin's balance off allowing for Naruto to send a kick at the man's face. Though Orochi moved at the last second the kick connected with his chest with enough force to hurt.

Surprised by the feat Naruto accomplished he smiled sadistically at the Genin, "Well, aren't you just full of surprises, Naruto?" The Snake Sanin watched the two closely as the began to try and think up another strategy but it was too late.

Orochimaru quickly disappeared using his speed to which the two Genin could see where he was going but failed to react quick enough as Orochi's first attack was a kick to the mid section of Naruto sending him head first into a tree leaving him on the ground. Now with only Sakura to deal with he stared her down, she was scared and she knew it was showing.

Backing away too scared to think of a jutsu to use Sakura soon found herself staring wide eyed at the Sanin her back against a large tree. It wasn't long before the Sanin was standing in front of her quickly caging her in by punching two holes into the tree showing her what would happened if she tried to escape.

Opening his mouth two fangs promptly began to extend in his mouth as if he was a snake ready to pounce. Sakura immediately froze and could only watch as if she was out of her body what was about to happen.

Then out of nowhere a hard punch sent into Orochimaru's face sent him flying hard into a tree, all she could see was a flash of red chakra in front of her before turning to see, "Naruto?"

There in front of her was Naruto alright but his whiskers had grown darker and when he turned she noticed his eyes were completely changed his usual blue one was now slit and red. Even his Sharingan had changed instead of its usual red, it was now orange and three tomoes, _'Wait three?' _had a fiery aura to them as he flashed away from her running towards Orochimaru.

As Naruto reached Orochimaru he noticed that the Sanin was standing up now with a very unpleasant look on his face, "Stupid Fox I should have known this would have been trouble. FIVE PRONGED SEAL!" Running toward Naruto with amazing speed he slammed his hand into the body only for it to poof away, "Shadow Clone?" Orochimaru immediately began to look in all directions as to where the boy would be before he heard a rumbling underneath of him.

Using the same technique that Kakashi had used on Sasuke during the bell test Naruto erupted out of the ground sending a hard punch for Orochimaru's jaw. As he looked at the spot Orochimaru landed he began to speak, **"I told you, I would KILL YOU IF YOU GOT NEAR SAKURA-CHAN!" **cocking back for a finishing punch Naruto immediately slammed his fist where Orochimaru was only for it to crash into the ground.

"Naruto! HELP!" Naruto's eyes widened as he turned to see Sakura held by the snake bastard.

"**Let her go!" **his voice still carrying the demonic like venom and snarl caused from using the Kyuubi's chakra.

"Kukuku" The Snake's laugh gave Sakura goose bumps as she felt his tongue slide over her neck, "Ah ah ahhh, Little fox boy."

Sakura looked up at Orochimaru completely clueless to the name as she mouthed it to herself, "Oh you don't know?" The Sanin's voice perked up in excitement as to how he could ruin the life of the Kyuubi holder even more.

He swiftly held a kunai at Sakura's neck so that Naruto wouldn't try to interrupt him, "Now as I was saying, your little friend Naruto over there has quiet a big sssecret, isn't that right Naruto-kun?" Orochimaru was using the suffix as if to poor salt on the wound.

Sakura could only listen in interest as, she expected he had one, but she hadn't gotten around to mentioning it yet. She herself was silent as she simply listened on, awaiting for the reveal.

Taunting Naruto even more he brought up her sudden silence, "See, Naruto, even your pink haired team mate is interested in what is going on about you." laughing for a moment more he had finally begun, "Thirteen years ago, your village was attacked by the Kyuubi yes?" He asked Sakura to make sure he was right in assuming how they were taught.

"Yes, and Yondaime Hokage defeated him sacrificing his life." She announced to her captor very astutely.

"Tsk tsk tsk, what they are teaching these days." The Snake Sanin shook his head in mock sadness, "Though not completely wrong, they never said he killed the Kyuubi did they?" Sakura shook her head that they hadn't, "Well that's because a being of pure chakra cannot be killed, instead it has to be 'sealed'." Sakura began to look curious as if she was trying to put the clues together.

"Seeing as how the Kyuubi was the most powerful of all the bijuu, it would require a small child a baby perhaps with no developed chakra coils so that they Kyuubi's chakra could help to expand what normal humans would have as a small amount compared to them." It was at the clue that he was afraid that he lost the poor girl not being able to put it together yet, "What day was the Kyuubi, 'defeated' Sakura?"

"October 10th." Sakura answered quickly as her eyes slowly raised as if she had almost figured it out.

"October 10th, but isn't that 'your' birthday Naruto?" Orochimaru laughed after his final hint was given and Sakura appeared to have now been in full shock.

"N…Naruto, has the Kyuubi sealed inside of him?" Sakura began to look back, the healing, the sheer amount of chakra, and of course his whiskers. It was unbelievable yet now it seemed so obvious, frankly she didn't know what to believe.

"Hahahaha." Orochimaru's laugh had now bellowed out of him at the sheer hilarity of the moment, "The very girl you have been fighting to protect is so stunned that she can't even speak, if that is not rejection then I don't know what is."

Sakura had yet to speak as the Snake Sanin slowly moved his kunai away from her neck feeling that he had won the psychological battle and was soon to have his prize. Naruto on the other hand looked as if he was going to completely breakdown, though the Kyuubi's affects were still taking place he was slowly calming down from the depressing moment before him.

Sakura wasn't looking Naruto in the eye causing him to drop onto his knees ready to give up, he looked up his eyes back to their normal appearance and his Sharingan back to two tomoes. "Sakura-chan?" His voice unsure as to what she was going to do next.

"Naruto…..kun.." She whispered lightly just loud enough for him to hear. Quickly she spun around her Sharingan blazing again she had withdrawn her kunai while Orochimaru was basking in what he thought was a win. Aiming for the pouch on his right hip she swiped at the bag causing it to drop, "Naruto catch!"

Not wasting the time to grab and throw it, she simply kicked the bag containing an Earth Scroll in it, towards Naruto, who quickly grabbed the bag. "Alright I got it!"

"AAAH!" Sakura was unable to escape with Naruto however as Orochimaru quickly used one of his Snake jutsu and wrapped himself around Sakura before she could even move.

Angry that his plot had not worked to divide the two he instead resulted to his original plan snapping his head down onto the Pink Girl's shoulder he sank his teeth in while focusing his chakra into a seal that appeared on her shoulder. "This is far from over Kyuubi Brat." Snarling at the boy he formed a single hand sign before sinking into the ground below by the use of a jutsu Naruto had made sure to keep his eye on. Dochuu Senkou.

Sakura immediately collapsed from the pain of Orochimaru's Chakra infusing itself into the seal that appear on her neck seemingly at a quicker pace then should be possible for normal Shinobi. However this did not change the fact that Sakura was now incapacitated on the ground completely drained physically and of her chakra.

Naruto who was almost nearly exhausted walked over to her unconscious body barely able to lift her up, his own chakra exhausted from having fought Orochimaru and having used the fox's chakra. On the bright side, "We now have both scrolls." Naruto tried to laugh but was finding it difficult to. He was alone now and was unsure what to do next, Sakura was usually the one who would plan their next move, he was usually just the muscle behind it, that made sure it happened.

Thinking to himself he tried to imagine what Sakura or Sasuke would do, "Shelter obviously, but where?" As he carried her through the forest he was able to find a tree that was hollowed out at the bottom, "Probably a shelter for some animals that don't want to be eaten." Sighing exhaustedly he carried her in setting her down softly before checking her forehead to make sure she was okay.

"Her head's a little hot but for the most part she should be okay…" Thinking of how much he really knew about medical problems though he silently added, "I hope.." Grabbing a few scrolls out of his pack he attached them to the top of the opening letting them open all the way towards the bottom. Now that the whole was covered he performed a simple henge in order to make the scrolls look like a part of the tree, hiding them….for now at least.

Sleep was what he needed then anything else otherwise he was going to be useless for the both of them. Exhaustingly Naruto laid himself down against the wall of the tree incase he needed to react quickly and get up.

* * *

The moment his eyes had closed he entered a deep sleep one that he severely needed, but seemed to end all too quick, as if only moments later he awoke. "Grrr…I bet I didn't get any sleep." Quietly going around Sakura as to not wake her he moved to where he placed his scrolls and pushed the edge over just enough to peek outside.

Surprisingly light was attempting to shine through the top of the canopy, "What day light?" thinking again, remembering the battle he was just in yesterday, "It must have drained me more then I thought." sadness filled his voice as he continued to remember the previous fight and what happened to Sakura.

Nervously he walked over to her body looking at her shoulder where a strange mark now resided, it's appearance similar to that of a mastered Sharingan. "I'll have to tell Kakashi-sensei, he'll know what happened." Naruto growled as he realized he was unable to protect Sakura, "I'll get stronger for you, Sakura-chan."

Rolling up his scrolls and placing them back in his pack he quickly dashed out to get some water for himself and Sakura, he had checked the surroundings last night after placing the scrolls up as cover. Filling a few bottles of water he was quickly on his way back to the tree, however it seemed he had picked up unexpected company, as his body suddenly became immobilized. Looking down he saw a long stretch of shadow, reaching out into the bushes.

Coming out of the bushes now, was Chouji and Ino. After they had come out Shikamaru stood up out of the bushes so that he was visible as well, "Sorry about this Naruto, but we need your Heaven Scroll."

Naruto sighed answering back to Team Ino-Shika-Cho, "Sorry guys but I don't have the scroll on me."

His answer had caused the other three to sigh as well, "Of course Naruto wouldn't, I told you Shikamaru!" Ino's high pitched voice berated the pineapple haired boy.

"I was wrong for once, sue me…" Shikamaru had an annoyed look on his face, "Troublesome girl…" Knowing how much louder Ino got the more he used that word he made sure to barely whisper it.

"So where is Sakura? Wouldn't she have come out by now?" Chouji pointed out as he looked around seeing no sign of the Pink haired girl.

Naruto grimaced and causing his face to immediately look downcast, causing the other three to immediately look troubled, "Is Fore…I mean Sakura okay Naruto?" Ino's face looked troubled as she waited for Naruto to answer.

"Well if you let me go I'll be able to show you won't I?" Chouji and Ino both nodded and looked towards Shikamaru who still seemed unsatisfied.

"What if he's just trying to goad us into a trap?" This warning immediately caused Chouji to look more defensive but Ino had no facial change.

"Shikamaru, it's Naruto!" This had made Shikamaru doubt his previous idea and began to let go of the jutsu releasing Naruto.

"Besides, when it involves Sakura, Naruto is always serious…" Ino noted looking downcast slightly.

"So what happened?" Chouji questioned as they began to walk towards the tree Naruto and Sakura were at, only to see three other Shinobi already there dragging her body out all conversing amongst themselves.

As the three watched from the bushes they tried to intercept what they were saying though only a few words could have been heard, "Orochimaru, Curse mark, and what sounded like Sound Village."

As the three watched on they could noticed they were now trying to wake Sakura up shaking her, smacking her, even dumping water on her. Turning to see Naruto's reaction they could see him visibly shake in rage ready to explode at any second. "Naruto calm down, we'll figure a way to get her out of there." Shikamaru was doing his best to calm Naruto but it wasn't working out very well as they noticed he lightly rose his headband up revealing his Sharingan blazing.

Having failed to awaken Sakura for nearly twenty minutes since they got there the female Genin of the bunch, who's name they heard was Kin, withdrew a kunai. This immediately set Naruto off as he vanished from his spot near the bushes and charged toward the girl with a swift kick to her jaw easily catching her by surprise.

The other two were shocked by the boy's amazing speed but were not surprised that he had arrived, in fact they were waiting on him, "About time you got here." The one with all of his face but one eye covered looked at him curiously with his head turned slightly.

Growling Naruto turned towards the two and quickly dashed forward his speed at amazing as just a moment ago, however he was not prepared for what happened next. The boy next to the masked man, Zaku extended both his arms forward sending a powerful blast of wind chakra directly towards the charging Naruto sending him back to the ground next to the unconscious Sakura.

Seeing her body however gave him the motivation to force his body back up though looking on at the other two in disgust, "You call yourselves Shinobi but yet you were willing to kill an unconscious Genin simply because you can?" Naruto's anger continued to rise as he spoke again, "Sakura-chan no less. WHY?"

"Haha, Well we are going to kill him, Dosu, so what's the harm." Zaku said looking at the masked Shinobi for confirmation.

Laughing behind his mask it seemed Dosu agreed, "I don't see why not." Turning to look at Naruto he began to speak, "We were sent by our Village Leader Orochimaru to test this girl to see if she was deserving of the power that Lord Orochimaru bestowed on her. Sadly it seems she has failed so now all there is to do is dispose of her and now you."

Dosu laughed as he slowly brought up his armored arm and began to concentrate his chakra into it, though nothing was visible a super high pitched sound began to emit from the holes in his arm quickly piercing Naruto's ears.

The pain was unbearable causing his ears to bleed steadily and for him to collapse onto a single knee, his vision then became shaky as he saw the form of Kin walk in front of him kunai in hand getting ready to end his life for good. "No…Sakura-chan I failed you." As Kin reached back for the killing swipe, Naruto closed his eyes and waited for it all to end but instead heard a gasp and opened his eyes to see Sakura up and awake.

There was something different though something off, her body was swirling in purple chakra and the mark that was on her shoulder was now spread throughout her entire right side, which was the same side as the mark was placed on her.

Sakura was holding onto the arm that Kin had her kunai in that was about to strike Naruto down, and was not giving up in her attempt to strike one of the two down, despite Sakura's hold on her. Sakura seeing that the girl was not going to give up smirked as she tightened her grip causing pain to sear through the arm of Kin causing her to drop the kunai.

Sakura though was gaining too much satisfaction from causing the girl immense pain and continued squeezing until an audible crunch was heard and a painful scream was heard as Kin passed out. Sakura had snapped the bone in her forearm before looking on at the other two in front of her now slightly afraid of the girl that had just so carelessly snapped their teammates arm.

Though Dosu had took a step back in fear Zaku stepped forward inviting the challenge, "You think a little chakra and some strength will scare me then you've got another thing coming Pinky!" Sakura laughed before she vanished, her speed quicker then the two sound ninja could see.

Naruto could only watch in horror and surprise as Sakura showed a strength that he had never seen before, "That must have been what they were talking about when they said gift." Naruto gritted his teeth as he stood up. "Sakura-chan!"

His yells though were pointless as Sakura appeared behind Zaku grabbing him by the back of his shirt he slammed him into Dosu sending the two of them flying into the other direction. As they were sent away from her, Sakura quickly began to perform a few hand signs before blowing a huge fireball from her mouth aimed towards the two. Zaku being in front of the two was able to forward his hands to the oncoming blast using as much chakra as he could muster together sending a huge blast of wind to try and snuff out the fire jutsu.

Though he had avoided fatal injury he couldn't get enough chakra together to over power Sakura's jutsu causing the majority of Zaku's body to be burnt and Dosu's coat immediately caught fire. The entire sound team had been taken apart by the Pink Kunoichi as she looked like she wasn't done yet. Walking towards the damaged bodies of the Sound team to finish them off Naruto quickly jumped in front of her.

"Oi, Sakura-chan, what are you doing?" His voice pleading for her to answer him, "This isn't like you to go out of your way to kill someone!" He stood determined in front of her raising his headband to show his Sharingan ready to stop her if he had to. When Naruto had looked into her Sharingan however he noticed that it had all three tomoes blazing around ready to read whatever Naruto's next move was.

Ignoring Naruto subconsciously knowing that she wasn't suppose to hurt him, Sakura kept going towards her target, the three Sound Ninja. However it wasn't going to be that simple and it never is with Sakura, for Naruto immediately walked in front of her again attempting to block her from going any further.

Angry now with this intruder of her personal space Sakura grabbed Naruto by his arm and threw him out of her way and into a near by tree where he crashed into it painfully. Standing up groaning as he did so he yelled out once more, "Sakura-chan!" Gaining her attention she had stopped and listened, "Is this really what you want to do Sakura-chan? What would Sasuke say right now if he saw us fighting each other using his own family's kekkei genkei" Naruto stifled a laugh as he continued, "Probably say I wasn't using it right and that you were getting on his nerves with how you were doing it so well haha, just like with tree climbing…"

Sakura had now closed her eyes remembering the day they were training chakra control so that they could climb trees, it was probably the first exercise that she had bested both the boys in so well. She could even remember that Naruto had asked her for help and done exceptionally well after that, and then Sasuke had done the same for with Naruto. The memory caused her to laugh inwardly releasing the chakra that was being released by the seal she dropped to her knees a little tired from the usage of the seal.

A few hours later the two teams of Konoha Seven and Nine were on their way towards the building in the center of the forest getting closer yet farther every second they walked. It was then that Naruto had begun to think back to when he was fighting the Sound Ninja when he turned to Shikamaru, "Oh yeah, why didn't you guys come to help me when I was fighting those guys by myself? Or when I was trying to stop Sakura-chan?"

Shikamaru simply laughed a bit sheepishly and replied with a surprisingly simple answer, "Well to be honest Naruto, I partly didn't want us to get involved unless it was absolutely necessary, besides you guys made it out okay. So I guess my decision was right." Shikamaru showed a small smile hoping that, Naruto would have been satisfied with that, considering that the other reason, _'Not to mention that I was scared Sakura might have tried to break our arms too.'_

The rest of the trip back had simply been a test of endurance, they were both tired but decided the sooner they got out of the Forest the sooner they could have a better night's rest in a bed instead of wasting another day resting here. Though it didn't help with both of them using their Sharingan intermittingly trying to stay away from Genjutsu, though at first the time between them was even often switching between the two, Naruto began to take more and more time with his.

He had noticed that Sakura would barely use it and it seemed to drain her even more then normal, even noting at one point when her chakra was really low, that the seal had lit up when she used it. "Sakura, I think we're getting close." seeing her wince in pain he figured getting her mind off of it would help, "I'll keep my Sharingan up the rest of the way stay close."

Knowing why he was doing this Sakura just nodded and agreed letting him take point now as she was following Naruto she had time to think to herself and figure out what that mark Naruto mentioned was doing to her. _'Draining my chakra, making me violent, and renders my Sharingan useless. Just like Naruto said, a curse mark.'_ Her mind was interrupted by Naruto stopping just a few feet in front of her, "Everything alright Naruto?"

"No, we're about to walk into a Genjutsu, it's not very strong, but it proves we're almost there, we could just go around it." Naruto even with his love to fight and prove himself knew that only him at fighting capacity and Sakura having a hard time even moving would mean a huge liability in a fight one that would be too risky to her life. "I say we go around."

'Naruto would never do that….unless it came to protecting me I suppose.' Sakura felt even worse then before, not only had she felt useless at Wave with him and Sasuke fighting all the battles but now he had to protect her again after she was supposed to be stronger. "What about the other teams Naruto? Like Ino's and Hinata's." She really was worried, but she needed to know they'd be okay.

Smiling the blonde boy turned around looking at Sakura, "Don't worry Sakura-chan, Shikamaru may be lazy but he's way too smart to fall into a low ranked Genjutsu like this. And Hinata has her byakugan." Sakura smiled back at him, he always had a way to just wave off fear like that and she admired him for it.

"Alright then, Naruto, let's go around." Finally the two were smiling at each other, even through the worst part of the exam the two could find happiness at least with each other at the moment. Without a second more delay the two were gone running around the Genjutsu which was really not as big as they had expected to be at first. "Well they are just Genin, he he." Naruto laughed a bit though he was getting tired from the strain of his Sharingan.

After they were sure they were far enough from the Genjutsu the both focused their attention forward Naruto was completely drained at this point and could not hold his Sharingan any longer unless he wanted to pass out. "Well looks like we are on our own now, Sakura-chan." Naruto sighed pulling his head band over his eye.

"Ugh how, Kakashi-sensei got used to pulling up and down on his headband all the time I'll never know." Naruto growled as he itched a spot above his eye that had gotten annoyed from his headband resting there.

Sakura giggled a little before getting even more excited, "We made it!"

"Huh?" Naruto turned to where she was face when he saw the large building in front of them and a door just a couple of yards away. "Alright!" Naruto who himself was excited quickly ran towards the door opening it allowing Sakura in first before going in himself.

* * *

Chapter 4: Foxes Purr?

* * *

After they had gone in they quickly figured out the riddle on the wall meaning that if the skills they possess were physical, meaning Earth, then they needed to concentrate more on Heaven, or skills of the mind. However if their skills were of the mind, then they needed to focus on learning Earth, or skills of the body.

When they opened both scrolls Kakashi had appeared congratulating them on a job well done of passing the second test though they looked depressed. Naruto and Sakura then told him about what had happened, mentioning that the man known as Orochimaru had come after them especially Sakura.

Not wanting to scare them more then he had to, he told Naruto to go and rest, and that he would take Sakura to get checked out. An offer to which they both agreed, Naruto was exhausted from his Sharingan and Sakura wished to know more about the mark. After taking her to the medical he took use of an operation room in which he would use to seal the mark. He did so by drawing up a seal both on Sakura's shoulder and around the room, which would contain the seal only as well as Sakura would fight with it.

His voice still rang true in her head, the last thing he told her about it, "Sakura nothing good will ever come with using that seal, even if it feels good while you're using it, it will just make it hurt more every time you stop." She trusted her sensei and would do her best to keep her word not to use it.

Sakura had now been released and the first place she was going was to rest in her teams room with Naruto, they did after all have one more day before the time limit was up. Some how a smile had come up on her face while thinking of Naruto, sure he was a good friend and if not for him, she would never be the same but for some reason thinking of him made her smile a little brighter then usual.

Opening the door to their team bunker she called out, "Naruto?" Her voice light and for the first time in a while happy. She looked over to a lump in a the bed closest to the wall and noticed Naruto was fast asleep, "I guess, he was more tired than he was showing." Sakura thought out load as she went over to the bed next to his, "Good night Naruto-kun."

The next morning things had been uneventful, sleeping in was something they hadn't got to do for a while and Sakura had felt amazing after the long rest. Stretching out of bed she looked about and noticed Naruto still in bed, she threw her legs over the side, stepping over her sandals, she wouldn't need them for the moment. Quietly she walked over to Naruto and she noticed how pained he looked in his sleep, "What are you dreaming about Naruto?" Her voice pegged with worry as she looked down as his sweating figure grabbing tightly onto the covers.

In Naruto's world things were going very different then the pleasant morning that Sakura was having, though he had fell asleep rather easy from exhaustion he would fight the remainder of the night in nightmares and terrors each of them more painful then the last. Naruto immediately shot up out of bed out of breath, finally having escaped a nightmare he looked down to see the pink haired girl laying on his stomach sleeping. 'She must have been waiting for me, while I was out.' his thoughts perked up a bit at seeing how she had sat waiting for him to wake up.

"It's okay Sakura-chan, I'm up now." She didn't budge, "Sakura-chan are you okay?" Reaching down her skin was ice cold to the touch, finally he grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her up, "SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto once more jumped out of his bed this time his eyes in tears as he looked down to his lap to see nothing. Breathing harshly he turned and saw Sakura sitting up in a chair next to him a worried look adorning her face.

"Naruto what happened?" Sakura looked at him carefully the pure fear in his visible eye was remarkable she had never seen Naruto that scared, even when she was at knife point, from Orochimaru. She watched as Naruto shakily extended a hand out towards Sakura lightly feeling her arm. "What are you doing, Naruto?"

Relieved that he was no longer in a nightmare Naruto had calmed his shaking down but was still barely glancing at Sakura, it was a few seconds after her question that he finally had the clear mind to speak, "I…had a dream Sakura-chan…" His voice was just above a whisper as he looked up directly into Sakura's visible eye.

"What was your dream about Naruto?" Sakura had a guess as to what it was, there are only a few things that will upset Naruto so much, one of them was in the room with him.

"You were laying your head on my lap like you were asleep but when I tried to wake you, you wouldn't move." Sakura was listening intently making sure not to miss anything he said. "So I tried to pick you up instead and when I did," Naruto's hands gripped the bed sheets tightly as he struggled to find the words, "Someone had ripped out Sasuke's eye and your throat was slit. So when I picked you up I was covered in blood Sakura, your blood…" Naruto couldn't help it as tears steadily rolled down his face as he tried to grasp once more the meaning of his dream.

The dream she had just heard had shook her to her core, but she wouldn't let him see it, it would only make things worse for him. "Naruto listen to me, I am perfectly fine and sitting right here in front of you." She smiled to try and get him to calm down the best she could. "And I won't be dying anytime soon, not with you here to protect me Naruto. Because I know you won't let anything happen to me."

Naruto released his death grip on the sheets before looking up at Sakura, "I'll get stronger for you, Sakura-chan." His eyes no longer showed fear or sadness but instead showed something far more powerful, Focus, it was like something clicked in his mind. Throwing the covers off of him, Naruto stood out of the bed without a single stutter, "My goal was to become Hokage and be respected by the people of the Village." Naruto smiled at the fond memory of their first team meeting, "Now I have a new goal. Something even better then becoming Hokage." Turning to look at Sakura again he continued to speak, "I'm going to become so strong that I'll be the greatest Hokage of all time, even better then the Fourth. And you Sakura-chan, I'll never let you die." Naruto's face was determined as he spoke but his feelings were confused, he loved the village so much, but when it came to Sakura, he'd do anything, probably more then he even would for the village.

Kakashi had just walked by the door when he heard Naruto get out of bed and stood quietly by the door as he listened to him speak to Sakura, "Naruto….be careful, promising your life to protecting someone can be a slippery slope…" He voice was hardly a whisper like a thought that found volume.

"They deserve a break today, I won't bother them…" Kakashi quickly shunshined away having his own matters of importance that needed attention. After all it's not everyday that the exiled student of the Hokage comes home just to say hi to a couple of Genin with Sharingan.

Later that day after a light breakfast and socializing with Teams 9, 10, and Gai, Naruto and Sakura were heading back to their room. Sakura had mentioned that there was some important things they needed to talk about. Naruto had some guess as to what it included, The Kyuubi. Though he couldn't say he was looking forward to the conversation he did want to get it over with.

Following the pink haired girl into the room he sighed sitting on a chair and watching as she closed the door, "So we don't get caught talking about it." She smiled trying to reassure Naruto and it had worked, a little bit.

"Alright, so what do you wanna know?" Naruto asked immediately seeing as how she pretty much knew the simpler part of it.

"Are you the Kyuubi?" Sakura asked this for one main reason and she had hoped Naruto would not get upset over it.

Immediately shocked by the straight forwardness of the question, "No, I don't suppose I am." He kept a straight face through his answer to make sure Sakura didn't doubt him.

"Does he influence anything you do?" Sakura asked a similar question just as before and waited for an answer.

"No." Just as Before Naruto kept a straight face, but it was clear that the topic was going to start bothering him very soon.

"One more question, and this is probably the most important of them all." Sakura's voice maintained stoic through her sentence, "Are you sure, you are okay with answering this Naruto?" Sakura asked carefully, giving Naruto a sympathetic look.

"Yes, Sakura-chan. I'm sure." He said nodding at her.

"Are your whiskers sensitive?" The smile Sakura was holding back quickly broke across her face also causing a deep red hue to cover it as well. "It's something I've wondered since what he told us. Oh and are they real?" he looked at them curiously reaching out a finger as if to prod at them.

Naruto blushed a bit and refused to answer, "I'm not telling." Seeing the finger coming after his cheek he quickly hopped back, "Heeeey quit it!" He yelled tiredly.

"But Narutooooo, you're telling me that you're not going to let a cute girl you like so very much touch your whiskers?" Naruto had crossed his arms as if not to answer her however when he turned he noticed the pouting look on her face which definitely caught him off guard, "Aaawww Sakura-chan…" He sighed before he sat down on the ground cross legged and crossed his arms, "Fine, knock yourself out."

"Eeeeih!" Sakura-chan squealed a bit happy to have won, and immediately sat next to Naruto who was holding his eyes closed. Slowly she reached out with her hand to feel the marks and gasped slightly noticing that there was a peculiar texture on his whiskers, "They certainly feel real."

Still ever curious the pink haired girl slowly began to rub the said whiskers which caused an unexpected reaction from Naruto. He immediately became submissive and laid his head down onto her lap, almost as if it was by a reaction. "Eh?" Naruto opened his eyes to see his vision turned sideways, "What happened?"

Sakura smiled widely and spoke to Naruto, "Looks like your whiskers are very sensitive Naruto hehe." She laughed as she reached a hand down and lightly stroked his whiskers again, "Seems that they calm you down and put you into a submissive state."

Naruto looked confused for a second until he felt her hands on his face again stroking his cheek and before he knew what was happening his head was softly on her lap again.

As Sakura continued to rub his cheeks, she noticed a certain distinct sound that sounded like it was coming from Naruto's stomach. "Naruto….."

"Hmm?" He responded to the girl calling his name.

"Are you purring?" She tried her best to not laugh as she asked him the question.

(A/N: Before anyone asks, I checked it, Foxes do purr :3)

Naruto refused to answer and instead just purred from Sakura's light touches to his cheek, "I'll take that as a yes." She giggled to herself a little but couldn't help but think it was cute.

What she hadn't noticed though was her door found its way open and they were suddenly not alone, all along the door frame were six other pairs of eyes watching them. Among the Six were, Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji.

Kakashi just happened to have been walking by when he noticed the rest of the Rookie class was staring into team's room, _'Oh what now…' _Kakashi sighed expecting to see his two charges in a fight and when he snuck up behind the Genin he was surprised to say the least at the site. In fact the position and what was going on looked extremely familiar, pulling out his orange book he quickly flashed through the pages before seeing an illustration of the exact thing they were doing only reversed.

In the book it was a rather handsome looking blonde very similar looking to Naruto and another blonde that Kakashi took note of. And instead of the site before them, in the book the blonde was the one petting on a as the book described ferocious redhead. Noticing that the group of Genin still hadn't noticed his presence Kakashi felt a sudden urge, '_This is too easy.'_ Backing away from the Genin a bit he pushed the bottom one with his foot who just happened to be Chouji, the one everyone was leaning over. Shunshining before he could he was sure it'd be a fun sight to see.

Just before he got much further a sudden shock hit him, "Oh…no…Naruto is rubbing off on me! NOOOO!" In mock terror Kakashi grabbed his book and immediately went off to read it in private.

Back In team seven's room however there were eight red faces all of whom were at a loss, until the one with pink hair stood up, "What the hell were you all doing spying on us like that!" Kiba's team immediately ran off in fright not really having spent much time with Naruto and Sakura since becoming Genin they didn't know better.

Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji however looked up sheepishly towards the irate Pink haired ninja, "Well? What was going on?" Sakura's face still a bright shade of pink as she waited for an answer from her best friend.

"Well…" Ino having for a moment forgot the reason she had come in the first place, "Oh yeah, I was going to ask if you and Naruto wanted to come with me and Shika to eat some lunch." Sakura could tell the blonde wasn't lying by looking at Shikamaru's troublesome expression. "Then why were you all there watching us!" Sakura yelled her face quickly brightening up again.

"Well, I thought it was really sweet and cute, and too be honest I couldn't take my eyes of you two. It was as if the two of you were in a trance." She looked off dreamily having her own fantasy for just a moment before continuing, "Then well Shikamaru starting watching surprised and Chouji came looking for him. Then Team 8 just happened to have been coming by and yeah, we were all kinda just amazed by how peaceful the two of you were." Ino had no shame in admitting that she was entranced by the action of Naruto and Sakura, seeing as how she was always a romantic.

Ino then elbowed Sakura in the side, "So when did this happen? Hehe." Ino gave Sakura a sly look out of the corner of her eye that instantly caused Sakura to flinch.

Sakura who quickly caught on to what Ino meant began shuffling her feet greatly embarrassed, "Ne?" her face now was severely red and she wasn't about to let Ino see it.

"Oh so your not dating then?" Ino said in a hushed voice, "Well maybe I should go ahead and stake my own claim, ya know, he has gotten a lot stronger and those clothes make him look great."

Ino was about to start walking towards Naruto when Ino quickly grabbed her and stopped her, "Wait, Ino." She sighed as the blonde then stopped and looked at her, "I think I might like Naruto." Sakura admitted barely whispering.

Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji had all been joking about something as the three of them were now laughing probably at someone else's expense.

Some Random HotSpring in Konoha

"Ah..Ahh…CHOOO!" the old man had sighed as he wiped his nose for a moment, "Damn brat I bet he was talking about me!"

Suddenly the girls that Jiraiya had been peeking on had started looking around, "Where was the sneeze from? Did you Sneeze?"

One of the other girls looked at her replying, "No, how about you?" She looked at the third girl who also shook her head. That was when they all turned to see a small hole in the wall, "EEEEK, PERVERT!"

Jiraiya sighed as the girls had found him out and started coming after him, "Man, just as it was getting good. That brat'll pay for this!"

Back to the Exam building in the Forest of Death

"I see, Sakura." Ino had just sat and listened to her best friend's situation on why she had not been making any more advances on Naruto other then spending time with him. "Sakura I miss, Sasuke too, but that doesn't mean you can put your entire life on hold." Ino was speaking from the heart, she thought it was the end of her world as well after hearing the news.

Sakura was still downcast slightly though she did understand what Ino was saying, "I know Ino, but I am truly starting to like Naruto and I don't want him to think he is just a second place prize." her voice had greatly lowered as she began to recollect all the times she had insulted and beat on him.

"Sakura this is Naruto you are talking about." Ino made sure to remind her who the boy was, "He would literally follow you to the end of the Earth if you asked him to. And you know he'd believe It if you told him that it was legitimate and not just a consolation prize."

Ino took the time to look around Sakura and to take a look at Naruto once more, "Besides he does look pretty good now, now as scrawny as he used to be, almost like he's been eating for once."

Sakura sighed, "Well part of it was because he barely had money to feed himself before, Ino." Her eyes however brightened up a little bit after all if not for her and her mother he'd probably be worse off then he was now.

"Sakura…. I had no idea." Ino looked at Naruto one more noticing his laughing with the boys hadn't stopped. "Ya know Sakura our teams should hang out more, you and me could gossip and argue about how I'm prettier then you and the boys could spend time together."

Sakura laughed, she knew Ino was being nice and trying to make her laugh while giving her an honest suggestion, "I think Naruto would like that Ino, just remember, he's mine…." Sakura looked at Ino again with a true smile this time and hugged her friend, "Thank you Ino you helped a lot!"

Ino then stood up to leave as she yelled for her team, "Shikamaru, Chouji come on, let's leave the love birds alone!"

Sakura's hair buzzed on end as she gave Ino a death glare with her visible eye and hissed in her general direction. Ino would get the last laugh this time, but that would be the last time or so she promised herself anyway.

Naruto of course had blushed a bit and spoke, "Haha, Ino's crazy as ever, eh Sakura-chan?" Giving her a care free smile Naruto walked to the door closing it.

Feeling at this point with everything that had been going on, as far, as now literally knowing everything about Naruto as well as, the challenges the two faced together what better time to give Naruto some good news. "I don't know Naruto I think she had a point."

"Wh..what?" Naruto couldn't believe what he heard was she admitting something to him.

Sakura laughed a bit at Naruto's reaction, and blushed a little herself slowly she walked up to Naruto and hugged him, "Naruto-kun, you promised never to leave me you promised to protect me, you've promised me everything I could ever want." She hadn't looked up at him but he could feel the curve of her lips were in a smile on his chest.

"Well Naruto-kun it's my turn to promise you something." Shifting her and posture so she was standing straight up and looking Naruto in the eye she spoke again, "I promise, Naruto, to make sure you are never lonely again!"

Naruto felt his heart swell, for years he had been experiencing the feeling of longing for something he could never have. Mothers, brothers, sisters, fathers, family! Words that seemed so distant from him just a year ago were now as common as anything else to him. Iruka was like a big brother, as he was to Konohamaru, Sakura's mother had been one to him as well the past few months. Even the old man had been like a father to him, always there to pull his head of the water when he got in too deep.

Fighting tears welling up in his eyes he looked at Sakura, "Haha, you better keep that promise, Sakura-chan!"

The rest of the night went by way too fast in the opinion of two certain shinobi as they spent most of the night just talking about their lives. What they intended to do if they made Chuunin, or what their plans were if they didn't, the conversation varied over many things in the next few hours, most of them not pertaining to the end of the second exam coming up the following day. Had Kakashi not shown up the two may have not went to sleep at all that night.

However as eerie a feeling as ever, Kakashi told Naruto he felt like he would need a lot of rest for the following day. And he would prove to be right, though the two Genin had no idea, simply doing as they usually did listening to their sensei the two drifted off into comfortable respite.

The following morning had a silent and almost still life feel to it, as Naruto and Sakura woke and prepared themselves for the what was to await them. Last night had been the last chance for anyone to make it into the next part of the exam and if any teams showed up Naruto didn't hear anything, though he tended not to really care so much about the other teams unless it mattered to him. The fact that him and the other rookies made it was enough for him.

The silence of the morning soon fell away into subtle normality, as least normality for Shinobi in the Genin Exams anyway. Following their sensei's all the rested teams who had passed that portion of the Exam went into the main chamber in which they all lined up. They would then be followed by the only late team to show up however that Team was from Sound each of whom were covered somewhat at least in bandages.

Overall there were five teams left, three of them were from Konoha, all of them rookies to taking the exam, the other two were the Sand Genin, and the Sound Genin. After all the teams finished lining up in no real specific order the Hokage walked up in front of the group and began to speak very audibly in the large chamber. "Congratulations on making it past the Second part of the Exam. However…" The old man paused for a second as he looked at the faces that stood out to him such as Naruto, Sakura, even the Sand Genin stood out to him because of his odd expression.

After the short pause he coughed before continuing, "However, too many of you it seemed managed to pass, though that is not a bad thing, we will have to cut half of you here." Many of the Genin were shocked and curious as to how it would work out as to who stayed and who went.

"That is why we are here in this large chamber, we will be having a makeshift tournament to decide who will go on the Third Exam." A lot of the Genin smiled at the opportunity of being able to show off their skills though most of them were scared of getting an opponent who was too much for them. The general fear of course for all of the Genin was getting Gaara as their opponent.

Each of the teams and their sensei's began to go up the set up stairs to where they could observe the fights from a safe spot, the three Konoha teams going up one side while the Sand and Sound teams went up the other side. Though neither one were particularly friends they disliked Konoha more, more then they were actually willing to share out loud in fact.

After everyone took their places a lean looking Jounin soon took the front of the chamber in front of the Hokage and cough, "Ahem…I'm Hayate and ahem and I'm the proctor for the tournament ahem." Turning he pointed up to a large black board which immediately came on, "That board has all your names entered ahem and it will pick two out at random ahem. During the fight ahem, everything is allowed though if I determine the fight is over ahem, it is over."

Everyone agreed amongst themselves that, talking to someone with that cough all the time would become annoying very quickly, though they felt sorry for him that he was always like that. Everyone's attention was quickly directed away from the asthmatic Jounin however once the large blackboard beeped as it began running over names of all the contestants.

The room fell silent as it continued to revolve for a few more seconds before landing its first name which everyone sighed a bit, "Gaara Sabaku. And…" The names continued to flash for a few more revolutions before stopping and flashing two names on the board above. All the Konoha shinobi including Hayate looked shocked at the name, even the Hokage looked very surprised in his reaction though troubled would have fit better.

Having paused too long Hayate started over, "Gaara Sabaku and Naruto Uzumaki come down to the floor." Gaara walked very casually down the steps looking as if he was not going to have any trouble in the upcoming fight. Though he made sure to keep an eye on the Uzumaki, he was still unsure of how the boy could fight, he had never seen him in the last exam. He was sure mother would like him though in order to help him feel alive for a while.

Naruto growled when his name rang up with Gaara's, though when he looked at the other Konoha Genin, the all looked worried. Even Kiba had went up to Naruto, "If you were to throw in the towel Naruto no one would think you were weak, and he creeps all of us out."

Naruto could tail Kiba was being honest but he knew there was more to the boy then they saw and he was sure that after a fight with him he'd find out what it was. "He-he Sorry Kiba, but who's going to kick your ass in the next Exam in I don't kick his now?" Pulling out an old play Naruto was going to act arrogant and show he wasn't scared. Though he was honest what he told Kiba what he had left out was that he didn't want anyone else to have to fight him. Especially Sakura.

After he had made his proclamation he turned to see Sakura worry easy to see on her face, "Naruto…." Her voice was low she wasn't sure what to say, she was also scared of Gaara, the look on his face was horrifying and she could only imagine how scary he was in a fight.

Naruto smiled and looked at Sakura, "Don't worry Sakura-chan, I'll be fine." His smile true and his cause to win even greater then before, he couldn't lose this fight, not with everything he still had to prove. So many people needed to know what he could do, after all no one has seen him fight since the academy other then Sakura.

Jumping off of the railing he landed twenty to twenty-five feet away from Gaara and placed a hand on his headband waiting for the fight to begin.

Hayate rose his hand into the air and looked to the two Genin neither of them looked scared in the least, but more like they were excited to fight, "BEGIN!"

Naruto immediately pulled up his headband, Sharingan blazing he charged in unafraid and brash, however before he got too close Naruto immediately put his hands together to form a familiar cross, "SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" Easily a hundred clones appeared all around Gaara, who looked surprised from the show of chakra, he was not the only one however. Gaara's brother and sister both looked down surprised at the shear amount of clones.

Temari looked to her brother, "There is no way a Genin should be able to make that many clones, that's insane." Her eyes now completely engaged on the fight that could very well be the best match up in the whole tournament.

"Let's just hope Gaara can end this quick." Kankuro's voice was able weary to the possibilities, "Cause you know what will happen if that kid hurts Gaara, it'll ruin everything!" After that mention both teens looked extremely worried as they waited to see how Gaara would react to this different challenge called Naruto.


	5. Chapter 5: The Same but Different!

Team Kakashi

Part 1

Chapter 5: The Same but Different

A/N

Sorry for the long absence my loyal readers, college is a bitch! But I really do not want to abandon this fic, especially when my life is going so great right now! J So without anymore delay lets continue on with Team Sharingan and see what happens with Naruto and Gaara. This will be the Chapter where we take the BIGGEST turn from the Magna and start delving into my mind for ideas.

* * *

Still facing Naruto emotionlessly Gaara used his sand to fling out from his Gourd and destroy all of Naruto's clones before he could even use them. This left the entire room silent and watching the fight with intense eyes. Naruto's reaction was one of surprise and slight worry, "Well this is going to Fun." After seeing how easily all of his clones were taken out he tried tossing a few hard shuriken testing, Gaara's defenses.

Gaara's sand once again easily smacked away the shuriken, without the boy even having to move from his spot. His sand however had not died on to the ground as before however and it formed up making a thicker concentration of Sand. Once it was big enough the sand instantly shot out a flurry of its own shuriken made of Sand and chakra making it as deadly if not more so then regular ones.

With Sharingan active Naruto easily avoided the shuriken and continued to move to try and find an easier way to get through Gaara's defenses. Naruto's first assault was fruitless as his first few punches were easily smacked away by Gaara's quicker sand. Though Gaara still had not yet made a serious move to attack on Naruto he noticed that the Blonde was in fact learning his defenses.

Wasting enough time Naruto finally decided on a plan of attack, creating six more clones Naruto immediately sent them forward to attack. While they were doing so Naruto flipped over to the side, as his clones caused Gaara's sand to disperse in different directions due to all the clones attacking.

While the sand was dispersing itself into different directions, Naruto finally began to perform a few hand signs, "Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Many in the crowd were shocked by the size of the fireball and the fact that Naruto was even able to perform it.

Gaara's eyes shot open but only for a moment as the fireball engulfed him and Naruto's clones half of which were dispersed before the fireball had even hit them. Naruto smiled and spoke softly out loud, "Got 'em." The Konoha side cheered while the Sand's side looked greatly worried and shocked.

The emotions on both sides didn't last long however after the dust cleared revealing Gaara to still be standing. This wasn't nearly as unnerving however as the appearance of the standing Gaara however. His entire body clothes on all were cracked as if he was a large cracked doll. Everyone other than the Sand team looked at the boy in confusion and worry.

Sakura looked up towards Kakashi, "H..how is he not even phased by Naruto's attack?" Kakashi looked calm though he was worried for Naruto due to the strength of this opponent he'd have to face.

"I'm not sure Sakura but we can be sure this isn't the limit of Gaara's abilities, we should watch this very closely. And Naruto better be careful." Keeping his composure as it had been, Kakashi was in fact worried that Naruto might not be ready for a battle at this level.

After firing his Jutsu Naruto had landed on top of the Statue that the Hokage and the others were sitting or standing just underneath. Trying to catch his breath Naruto watched as the dust finally dissipated however what he saw wasn't what he expected at all. As Gaara straightened himself up the Sand like covering around his entire body which was visibly cracked began to fall away off of his body.

Gaara was revealed perfectly fine underneath this body armor which a scary smile plastered across his face, which seemed to suck the sound out of the room as everyone just watched on. Even Naruto was frozen if not just for a moment, but it was long enough to be taken advantage of as Gaara immediately popped in behind Naruto sending a sand encased kick in the middle of his back sending him flying.

Before Naruto hit the ground a tendril of sand caught his ankle and squeezed tightly almost enough to break his ankle before he was effortlessly tossed into the side of the building underneath the balcony. Everyone gasped and watched on as Naruto's body barely shook giving the notice that he was still alive and able.

Pushing himself up he rose to see Gaara and his crazed smile in front of him, "Your death will prove my existence!" Gaara's voice echoed out as he lifted Naruto by the neck and his sand forming into fists began pounding away at Naruto's gut to make him feel as much pain as possible.

Once Gaara was nearly finished with Naruto he threw him once more into the other wall harder then before using a good amount of his chakra. It was this point that the Konoha side were scared by the pure strength showed by the Sand Genin, even with Naruto's Sharingan he was being beat into the ground.

Sakura however was the most worried out of everyone there and was on the verge of crying she was so worried about Naruto, by the brutish hits that he had been taking almost relentlessly at this point. "Naruto! Get up!" Her cry to Naruto was the only thing she could think of to help him get up, or at least be aware of his surroundings.

'_Ow… that guy definitely hurts.' _The blondes groans known only to himself as he finally managed to push up into a vertical state at which he saw the no longer stoic Gaara but the crazed one. "This could be a problem." his voice not pointed at anyone in particular.

Smiling after returning to a standing position Naruto pulled out a kunai ready for some more melee action. As he did this he quickly formed the Shadow Clone hand sign and twenty more Naruto's appeared by his side. All of his clones quickly reacted to being summoned, "Ready Boss!"

Gaara had a surprised look on his face to see that he was so willing to get back up and throw himself into what seemed to him as his own death. Naruto wasn't done yet however and called out the Sand Shinobi, "You think some puny shield is going to stand up against me?"

Gaara couldn't react fast enough from the shock as Naruto had already started his attack, sending all twenty Naruto's forward to attack all at once. Gaara however seeing the attack coming vanished from his spot and sent a sand Tendril through the Naruto that remained behind impaling the blonde and sending him flying through the air.

A loud excruciating scream was heard from the impaled boy followed along with many loud gasps from the watching crowd and Sakura's scream, "NO Naruto!" Sakura silently slid down to the ground her head pressed against the bars sobbing silently.

Just after Sakura's helpless cry the impaled Naruto poofed out of existence leaving a wide eyed Gaara and a relieved crowd. However now everyone's eyes were on the small group of clones that hadn't dispersed and several of them jumped at the un ready Gaara.

Sakura had stood back up though relieved that Naruto was still alive she was still very worried for the safety of her affection, as the clones sent up to Gaara were taken out slower then the previous times. With only a few more clones still fighting Gaara, Sakura looked down to where Naruto was, he was getting two of his clones to throw him at the busy Gaara who was caught greatly by surprise.

Naruto's clinched fist had connected to the side of Gaara's jaw cracking the armor and causing him to fly into the ceiling. That was not all for Naruto however as he quickly performed the hand signs for yet another fireball, "Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

"YEAH! GO NARUTO!" The Konoha side of the large battle room was ecstatic at how well he seemed to be doing now after having turned the tide on Gaara.

Gaara's flaming body began to fall from the ceiling, smoking, and looked to be burnt to a crisp. With Gaara landing on the ground violently his two siblings looked toward each other with great worry and then to their sensei, who shared their face of grief. If Gaara had truly been damaged they knew exactly what to expect next and it wasn't good, for anyone.

It seemed their worst fears had been realized for as soon as Gaara rose up all of his sand armor had been beaten and blasted away into nothing, his gourd had been nearly shattered, and his skin and clothes were burned and torn. Raising his hand up to his face, Gaara felt the warm sensation of blood and his pupils shrank immediately. He gritted his teeth tightly and bellowed out a monstrous roar, that was not normal by any means at all.

The Sand Team quickly looked at the Sound team who nodded, things were about to get very interested too soon for their liking, neither had the proper perpetration ready, but if they didn't act soon, their plans would be non existent. The Sound's Jounin Sensei quickly left the room, silently so as not to disturb anyone.

After his loud roaring had subsided Gaara's face again gave a look of total craze and anger, this time however the sand simply bust out of his gourd destroying it. The sand began to form around his body starting at from his right side engulfing his right arm and covering a bit of his face. Everyone quickly became worried by the site as they continued to watch, the biggest question in everyone's mind was what was happening with the Sand Genin

It looked as though they wouldn't have very long to find out however as a loud explosion blasted off in the background causing a rumbling to shake the foundation of the building they were in. The Hokage was the first to stand signaling the Jounin and ANBU that were standing near him, immediately, all but the Jounin-sensei took off from the area to investigate the cause of the explosion.

The Genin however were not sure how to react, all frozen in shock including Naruto who was still fighting Gaara was looking all around trying to determine what was going on around him. As soon as Naruto finally discerned what was going on around him however and he was going to set his focus back on Gaara, as soon as he turned however Gaara was gone all that remained was the hole he left in the wall upon his departure. "Damnit, he's not getting away that easy!"

Following through the opening left behind by Gaara Naruto ran through it hopefully to trail him and make sure he didn't hurt anyone. He wasn't far behind him, but he knew he wouldn't catch up unless Gaara slowed down or felt his chakra and decided to stop entirely so that they could fight, and settle this now.

* * *

While Naruto was chasing Gaara who after busting through the wall was now out of the Forest of Death, Kakashi was organizing the other Genin into two squads one, to make sure the Academy students went to the safety bunker along with civilians. The other squad was to go and make sure Naruto was okay and to neutralize Gaara before he could cause more damage.

Forming a few hand signs Kakashi quickly bit his thumb and hit the ground with it, "Summing Jutsu!" A Small dog poofed into existence and holding a paw up spoke with a low voice, "Yo."

"Pakkun, you need to get a trace of Naruto. Can you do that?" Kakashi sounded slightly rushed, with everything that they needed to get done in such a short amount of time, "Yeah Boss."

"Sakura, Shikamaru, Ino, and you too Shino. I want you guys to go after Naruto, since you are the quickest and smartest you should be able to find his trail and follow it quickly with Pakkun leading the way." Kakashi then turned to the other Genin after the other four had took off, "Hinata, Kiba, Chouji, you are the most close range oriented so you need to get to the academy and make sure that the Academy Students and all the Civilians make it to the Bunker alive!" After they nodded they were gone immediately as well.

Kakashi himself turned to see that the Sand team aside from its sensei was gone along with what looked to be a rogue ANBU standing next to him. "So that's how they did it." His voice was quiet but Kakashi knew what he had to do withdrawing a kunai he hopped down onto the floor where the two others were.

"Ahh Kakashi-san so glad you could join us." The fake ANBU reached up to remove his mask which revealed a teen with round glasses and a devious smile.

Kakashi looked at the teen unsure as to who it was despite his familiar appearance, "Who are you?"

"Kakashi, I'm surprised you don't remember me, my name is Kabuto Yakushi, sorry to say that it wont matter anymore. After today the leaf will be no more." After a smug laugh he turned to the Sand Jounin, "Isn't that right Baki?"

Baki simply nodded in agreement before withdrawing a kunai preparing to attack Kakashi, which after just a moment of waiting he immediately took off into his direction. His run was ended shortly after beginning however when a green blur quickly connected with Baki sending him to the other side of the room. "Don't worry Kakashi-sama, I'm here to help!" The taijutsu master of Konoha smiled giving Kakashi a thumbs up and readied himself to fight whoever was next to show up.

* * *

With Pakkun leading the way they were quickly gaining on Naruto having been fully rested unlike Naruto and Gaara having already fought and used a lot of Chakra. Even then it would still be a little while just to finally meet up with Naruto and help him against Gaara, they all agreed that, he was definitely a freak of nature.

"We need to catch up and make sure Naruto-Kun is okay." Sakura's worry getting the best at her as she kicked off the next tree a little harder. After a small explosion going off after Sakura sped up the others turned it up a notch as well, "Sakura be careful its probable that Gaara's team mates set up traps incase they were followed."

"Does that mean Naruto-kun got hit by that?" Ino called out slightly worried, while looking at Shikamaru. When he didn't immediately answer her face continued to look worried so she turned to look at Shino who stayed as stoic as ever though he had a look of concentration on his brow.

Finally Shikamaru spoke once Sakura slowed down enough for them to catch up to her, "Don't worry guys it's Naruto he's fine, he probably used Shadow Clones to set any traps off on purpose, if you guys remember he had his Sharingan active." Making sure everyone was okay with what he said, he gave them all a reassuring smile, a smile which everyone took in and smiled back feeling better already.

* * *

As Naruto continued his tailing of Gaara he began to get within eye shot, though it was extremely far he could see his now very deformed outline, along with two smaller ones next to him. As he sped up however to get a better look he saw the two smaller outlines break off from the squad, however they didn't seem to be going for him. Thinking where they could be going he realized that, _'Kakashi would have sent a team after him, so they must be going to make sure me and Gaara fight one on one.'_

"I hope they can handle themselves, I cant let Gaara get away. I WONT let Gaara get away." Naruto's determination was not going to let the chase take any longer, focusing his chakra he immediately, increased his speed catching up to Gaara. Seeing a small opportunity Naruto dived his body forward creating ten clones in the process, causing all eleven Narutos to hit Gaara in the back.

After all eleven Narutos made contact Gaara was knocked hard through a large tree just in front of him. After Gaara made contact the eleven Narutos kicked off to make sure that none of them were dispersed to save chakra. Once the first attack had been struck the Naruto clones and real one all landed on a large branch that they had been pushed Gaara off of in the first place.

As soon as the Narutos had landed Gaara was already jumping back up to the tree tops angrier and uglier then before. After a single evil glare, the mutated Gaara let out a bellowing roar.

"Oh this was a great idea Boss." Naruto turned to the clone that spoke out to him, "Oh shut up, like you woulda done anything different." Acknowledging that it was true, the other Naruto shut up and reassumed his fighting stance. "Alright big, tall, and ugly. Ready for another beat down!" A Naruto in front spoke out with a finger pointed at the growling face of Gaara.

Without missing a beat, five of the eleven Narutos charged forward tossing kunai and shuriken as cover fire to begin their initial charge. All their weapons made contact along with the physical strikes that each of the clones attempted on the large sand like creature. There attacks were to no avail though, the sand simply took in the weapons and the attacks had no effect on him at all.

In retaliation to the clones attack, Gaara used his sand to fire all the weapons out of his sand and back at the five clones that fired them off in the first place. Not expecting the weapon return the five clones were easily taken out leaving only Naruto and five more of his clones, "I should remember that…. I don't need my own weapons fired back at me…"

Suddenly an idea hit him, and acting quickly, he summoned another five clones to attack Gaara and buy enough time for his other clones to wrap explosive tags around their kunai. After the distraction group of clones were taken out, the five clones charged in on Gaara and all attached themselves to it waiting for their tags to explode.

* * *

A/N

YEAH YEAH I know, why did it take 4 months to get another chapter out. Like I said at the top College is a bitch. And I know this was probably the worst and shortest chapter, and it was rushed. But two things had to happen, 1. I needed to get the stupid invasion thingy out of my way. 2. I wanna get on to my own personal part of the story where I can make it up as I go along.


	6. Chapter 6: A Deadly Reunion!

Team Kakashi

Part 1

Chapter 6: A Deadly Reunion

A/N

I know my last chapter was my worst one by far, but that was just to get me back into form. I apologize for being gone for over a year, but to say things have been complicated would be to say that, leaning medicine, is like learning to ride a bike. So get some snacks, use the bathroom, turn on some Naruto theme music at the appropriate times and ENJOY!

* * *

"Orochimaru, your plans to destroy the leaf are on the same path as your very life, extinction." The old gravelly voice of the Third Hokage rang out as he shrugged his armor covered shoulders. Hiruzen's voice was grim and his face showed a disappointed look even more so then he had when he had thought that it was simply the Sand Village turning on their alliance.

The two great Shinobi had been battling within the large force field like square created by the Sound Four, for what seemed like hours. Both were worn down by the intense battling with each other and had exchanged a lot of words with one another, trying to use mental warfare in an attempt to give advantage to their physical battle.

The snake Sannin had not expected his old sensei to be as resourceful and strong as he had shown so far in their fight, especially considering the long standing peace the leaf had been relaxed in for so long. "It appears Sarutobi-sensei, that you have not lost as much of a step as I had thought." He added a slither of his tongue to add more discomfort to the Third, and watched him with a crazed yet happy glint in his eye.

"Why do you not just give in, Orochi, there is no point to this senseless battle, you do not have the strength to take the Leaf, nor do you have the skills to defeat me!" The Thirds voice was continually getting dryer and less patient, though, he was undoubtedly the strongest Shinobi in the entire leaf he was still plagued by his growing age. It is not clearly evident to anyone other then the Hokage himself, but he was grower more tired the longer the battle delayed.

"It appears Sarutobi-sensei, that I will be able to use this jutsu after all." Orochimaru's terrible laugh echoed about in the air as he begun his hand signs, "I certainly hope you enjoy this as much as I do, Sensei." His snake tongue hissed out the last word with a evil tint as he began channeling his chakra into his technique. "Forbidden style! Edo Tensei!"

Suddenly appearing out of the gray concrete roof before him, two large wooden coffins one with the Kanji for First Hokage, the Second with the Kanji for Second Hokage. At the very glimpse of what was coming out of the ground, Sarutobi immediately sprung back into action immediately bringing up his hands to cancel his jutsu. However before he could begin cancelling out the first two a third one began to rise with the Kanji for, Fourth Hokage. Sarutobi's eyes shot open as he saw the final coffin.

"I must stop that last Coffin at all costs!" Focusing his chakra and using every ounce of control that his experienced form held he was finally able to sink the third coffin back into the ground as if it had never even been there disappearing from sight completely.

* * *

A low toned roar bellowed out as each of the five explosive tags went off all over the body of the partially transformed body of Gaara, sending sand flying everywhere. Once the dust and dirt cleared, all that Naruto could see what the form of Gaara unconsciously laying on the ground covered in the Sand that was originally in his Gourd. Naruto seemed to be ecstatic, smiling widely and throwing his hands behind his head relaxing in the bask of his victory. He was surprised that his plan had worked so easily, and that he had defeated the frightening teen, Gaara, before he was able to cause any more damage to the Leaf Village.

Before Naruto could collect his body however, the sand surrounding Gaara began to show life once more collecting all around him pushing his body back up to attention. However what Naruto had noticed when Gaara's body was brought back up, his eyes were still closed and his face looked to be sound asleep. Luckily Naruto hadn't deactivated his Sharingan yet, and began to realize a difference in the chakra that was controlling the sand, it was demonic in feel, similar to his own, when he accessed the Kyuubi's chakra.

Realizing just how severe the situation that he was in, Naruto backed away smartly, seeing that the swirling sand kept layering onto Gaara, taking dirt from the ground as well, making for more layering on the Sand Genin. Naruto's mind quickly began to be running though ideas on how in the world he was going to be able to stand a chance now, he had used a lot of his chakra already on clones and chasing the Sand Genin. To make matters worse, he was getting larger and the amount of chakra he was drawing was growing larger by the minute. It was then that it hit the blonde Genin that he was just like him, he also had another chakra inside him, it was the reason why his siblings feared him so, and why he seemed so different.

"They have stopped." Pakkun planted himself down near by branch and lifted his nose up in the air as if double checking, "Yes, they stopped running, and are fighting now. I can smell it." As he finished talking all the others began to look amongst themselves, everyone was worried, though it seemed to plague Sakura the most.

As the others were getting ready to move however Pakkun stopped them by speaking again, "That's not all however, there is one more near by, in front of us, it seems they are waiting, probably for us." Once he finished talking he began to lead the hunt again by taking a steady lead in front of everyone.

"It's probably one of Gaara's siblings." Shikamaru pointed out confidently, "Trying to make sure that we don't get involved in the fight between Gaara and Naruto." Everyone simply nodded as they continued to follow Pakkun all trying to steel themselves should they have to fight both Gaara and his siblings.

'_I hope Naruto is alright, fighting against that creep Gaara.'_ Sakura clinched her fists for a moment in mental anguish, she wanted to make sure Naruto was alright, and she was going to do anything she could to help him, if they made it to him on time.

Everyone else was thinking similar thoughts as well, each wanting to make sure that Naruto was alright, and dreading a fight against the unforgiving Gaara. They were not allowed a lot of time to dwell on those thoughts however as the appearance of an older Genin in a black jumpsuit with face paint stopped them dead in their tracks. "It'd be a good idea for you kiddies to just go back and hide, unless you want to end up dead."

Just as everyone was about to start reaching for weapons Shino uncharacteristically spoke up, "Don't bother, go on, I'll take care of him myself." This surprised everyone drawing confused looks from each of them.

"Are you sure, Shino?" Shikamaru knew nothing about the Genin Shino was preparing to face off with so he couldn't simply allow him to go off without any help.

"Yes, I am sure. I will defeat him, do not worry." It was difficult to tell by looking at him, but Shino was very determined, having not got the opportunity to fight during the Chuunin Exams, he wanted to prove himself now, to both his friends and to the rest of his village, by helping his fellow Genin complete the A rank mission given to them by Kakashi.

Nodding, Shikamaru turned to the others and motioned for them to move on, again following Pakkun. Kankuro was not going to allow them to just walk on out however, and quickly moved to stop them. As soon as Kankuro's hand reached out to grab Shikamaru's shoulder a kunai flew just between them, bringing everyone's attention back to Shino who looked as stoic as ever.

"You'd best pay attention to me." The quiet tone still loud enough for everyone around to hear, "I won't hesitate to end your life the next chance I get." Shino's eye brows furrowed down in an intense focus on Kankuro.

With a simple grunt Kankuro turned his attention to the bug user, "Fine, fine, let them go get killed by Gaara then, I don't mind squishing a bug like you." All aside from Shino himself were completely oblivious to the outrage that his hive felt, after the threat from the puppeteer.

Now able to move on, Pakkun followed by Shikamaru and the gang were quickly again on their way after Naruto and Gaara. They needed to hurry however, it was already nearing mid day, and fighting enemy Shinobi at night wasn't exactly what they wanted to do at the moment, especially with a dangerous Gaara on the loose.

Without having any worry of getting jumped the small group of Genin were able to move as quickly as possible through the forests and directly towards Naruto. Pakkun had immediately perked up his head once more notifying that they had nearly made contact, "We're there."

By the time that they had jumped over the next set the trees they came upon the sight of a large mountain of sand which took the growing shape of a Raccoon Dog, a Tanuki. Immediately upon sight of the terrible beast, the three remaining Shinobi and Pakkun planted themselves on the nearest stable branch that could hold the four of them. Just as unexpectedly as once they settled down on the branch, they noticed another presence near by, all turning to notice the girl known as Temari standing both in fear and deep thought on the tree near by.

The first reaction of the small party was to immediately draw a weapon, however Temari seemed to only turn her head away after acknowledging the Leaf Genin, apparently too worried about Gaara to do much else.

"Ugh, could this day be anymore troublesome?" The annoyed grumble came from Shikamaru of course, who narrowed his eyes at the Sand Shinobi before turning back to his own group.

"We need to find a way to get to Naruto before he gets stomped out by that monster we saw." Quickly to the point they all began to mobilize and leapt off the branch in the direction of the enormous sand monster, each hoping to themselves not to regret the decision.

Still standing on the branch alone Temari looked down to her feet trying to will herself to move but could not find the motivation to do so. "Don't they know they're going to die?" Her voice carried out quietly to no one, "Why even bother trying to save someone completely doomed, nobody can survive against Gaara."

"Argh….Are you kidding me!" loud aggravating shouts made their way to no one as the Blonde Genin continued to send Shadow Clones using explosive tags charging into the lower limbs of the large Sand creature attempting to bring it down. The explosions however were far too weak to do any permanent damage as the sand simply repaired itself moments later.

Deciding for a new tactic, Naruto began leaping off trees attempting to get as high as possible before using as much chakra as he could control to his legs. This destroyed the top of the tree he jumped off of, but sent him soaring into the direction of the backend of the large monster of sand.

"He he, finally, now just got to figure out this stupid things weak spot…" Naruto began to run up the tail of the Sukaku clone, attempting to make his way up to the head to go for a fatal blow. Unfortunately for that of Naruto each grain of Sand used to create the Sukaku acted as a nerve ending telling the monster exactly where he was.

Being that Naruto was at the tail of the monster, it swiftly moved back taking Naruto with it and immediately swung forward at amazing speeds sending him effortlessly through the forest.

Naruto was lucky enough not to collide with any trees right after being tossed, though it didn't last long as he was finally sent crashing through a large trunk before hitting flat against another behind it. Naruto's body limply fail to the ground afterwards leaving the boy out cold for the moment, though in his mind he was reeling at the pain his body had just felt being tossed so far.

Drawn to the crashing sound, Shikamaru, Sakura, and Ino quickly came upon the sight, seeing Naruto in a dirtied heap on the ground. Sakura was quickly on him, flipping him over examining his body, for wounds, though none seemed fatal she still looked worried, "Oh Naruto.." She held his head up off the ground for a moment longer before laying him back down softly.

"What do you think happened to him, Shikamaru?" The platinum blonde questioned, looking from Naruto's knocked out form, back to the dark haired Shadow User.

"If I had to guess, I'd say that giant sand thing knocked Naruto back into our zip code." Shikamaru walked over to Naruto's form reaching down to pick him up, "We'd best take him back to Kakashi, so he can figure out what we need to do next." Turning his head for a moment to see the damage caused by Gaara, "There is no way a couple of Genin can take out something like that."

Everyone nodded in agreement, especially Sakura who most of all wanted Naruto to be treated quickly, though as soon as Shikamaru was about to lift him up his eyes began to flutter back open. Shocked to say the least everyone quickly took a step back to make sure he had room to move a little.

"Ergh…." Naruto's body was having a hard time receiving the signals his brain was giving it, as he forced it to move though slowly at the moment. "No.." Naruto continued to force his body back up, now pushing his hands off the ground attempting to make a steady base for him to get back up.

"There is no way, I'm just going to leave, while Gaara can be left alone to destroy our village!" Still obviously injured his voice, nor his will seemed to be effected in the least, he was however beginning to get his body to function better likely with the help of his host, regenerating the cells throughout his body.

"You've got to be kidding, Naruto!" The other loud blonde quickly had the agreement of Shikamaru and Sakura, "There is nothing we can do in this kind of situation. We need to go back, and get Kakashi-sensei's help."

"Ino's right Naruto, even with us both using our Sharingan I don't think we could really do anything to stop something as impossible as that." Taking a moment of pause she quickly referred to his injured state, "Especially considering you just got thrown through the forest like nothing!"

"It certainly would be a lot less troublesome on our part if we had some help from someone stronger then us." Thinking back to their trip here, "Especially since Shino stayed back to take on that Kankuro guy, I don't like leaving him without any help."

Naruto had seemed to just ignore every word they said, now at full attention he simply looked at all three of them before speaking, "You guys can go back if you want. But there is no way I'm going to just run away and let Gaara destroy everything!" Clinching his fist he began to finally get a hold of his second wind, "My goal is to be Hokage, and what kind of example would it be for me to just run away just because something got hard!"

The other three Genin couldn't do anything but listen as Naruto continued, "The Leaf Village is my home, and as long as I can breath, and as long as I can move, I will never run away and let that monster kill my precious people. That's my Nindo"

* * *

Using every ounce of his Chakra and will power to pull forth Orochimaru's soul, The Third Hokage, Sarutobi began to feel his body failing. The sword in his chest and chakra nearing depletion he was far passed his limit, but he was not going to give up, not after having fought Orochimaru so hard, and to push him so far.

"Don't you think you should take a rest now?" Orochimaru's mock concern was answered back with an ignored response a tightened grip on his shoulder by the Third Hokage. "Fool! Don't you know what has befallen your precious village?"

"Never mind the odds our Leaf Shinobi are up against, they'll lay down their lives for this village!" The old Hokage's voice became more strained with every word yet, more empowered as he continued, pride of his village and their Shinobi's love for it literally beaming out of him at his last moments.

"It was one of the first lessons I ever learned! It's not until you've protected someone you care about, that the true power of a Shinobi emerges!" Each breath became more ragged as he attempted the best he could to keep his consciousness as well as his focus on the man before him, who was obviously stunned by the resilience he was able to show. "As long as our shinobi are able to breath they will stop at nothing to ensure that the village survives."

Coughing up a small amount of blood on his grey beard, he spoke up again, "However it seems that today my strength shall not be enough to defeat you, but that does not mean you have won, Orochimaru." Continuing to speak before the Snake summoner would even be able to get a word out a sigh escaped the old man, "Since I do not have the strength to pull your soul into the void with me, I will ensure that you are never able to perform jutsu again!"

Orochimaru's face quickly contorted in anger having no power to stop the Hokage from continuing to pull on his soul. However his facial expression changed to fear once he saw what he meant, the Shinigami had stop waiting and pulled out his small blade slicing through the astral arms being pulled by the Hokage's jutsu, relinquishing his hold but also leaving his arms useless. "Ssst, you bastard old fool!" Orochimaru's anger and the pain his arms felt knew not the words to phrase to express his current array of frustrating thoughts.

The old man Hokage however was oblivious to the words and looks on Orochimaru's face once the Shinigami sliced through and his soul was being absolved from his body. Falling to the ground the Hokage's last thoughts were that of a small boy that once upon a time had been his smartest student and a precious person to the Hokage. The image in his mind had been that of the pale boy looking onto his Sensei smiling in care for the man that was training him, and with a smile on his face the Hokage's soul had finally slipped through allowing him to rest his tired body.

* * *

On the other side of the Village was the nearing form of Gaara as the Sukaku that he holds within his body, along with the Leaf Genin that were still fighting it with everything they had. Sakura and Ino were both out cold and laid down on a branch with an exhausted Shikamaru who had been using every bit of his chakra to keep the group away from the attacks of the transformed Gaara. "Naruto we need to take the girls back before it's too late, we can't do anything to that monster, we can't even get close to him without being blasted back by his sand attacks, or that monstrous wind that comes out of his mouth."

"Grr…" pushing himself off the ground once more he had nearly stumbled from using so much of his chakra and colliding with the hard surface of the ground so many times had bruised him all over. "If I could just get to Gaara and knock some sense into that sleeping skull of his I might be able to stop that monster from reaching the village and concentrate on me."

"Wait, Naruto are you saying that Gaara is asleep?" Shikamaru gave Naruto a curious look starting to formulate a plan. At his question Naruto had just looked back to Shikamaru and nodded.

"Yeah, he's out cold, at first I thought it was just deep concentration, but when I had started running up his tail on one of my first attempts I saw his body just hanging on top of the head. His own head was down and his arms just hung at his sides." Naruto clinched his fists tightly at the aggravation of not being able to stop the monster, and was about to charge off again before Shikamaru stopped him.

"Naruto, I don't think you have to worry about stopping that monster!" Shikamaru had been attempting to piece together the knowledge he had of Gaara while stopping Naruto from blindly charging off again.

"Shikamaru what are you talking about? If I don't he'll destroy the whole village!" confused by what he was talking about Naruto just gave him an odd look after bursting out in surprise.

"What I mean Naruto, is that all we need to do is just wake Gaara up! It seems like this whole transformation is based on him staying out of it! When you said it looked like he was concentrating, maybe he was putting himself to sleep with some kind of special jutsu to transform." Shikamaru thought he had discovered how to finally take the monster out, the only problem now would be getting to him.

"But every time we even get close he knocks us away like nothing, so how can to him, I can't jump that high even using chakra and he feels it if I run up his sand body." Naruto had now begun to enter deep thought as well trying to figure out a way to get to Gaara atop the Sand Monster's head.

"Maybe if we can boost your speed somehow, and send you up into the air. Like a catapult!" Shikamaru's brows had furrowed as he entered deep thought trying to stop a monster with impenetrable defense was a difficult thing to do, especially with limited time.

"I got it!" snapping back into action Naruto jumped into an open spot of the forest with a straight shot towards Gaara, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" sending out around twenty clones in front of him he made sure that they lined up ten on each side and all connected their inside arms together, making two straight connected lines of clones. Shikamaru could only give an odd look as he wondered just what in the hell Naruto was doing, that was until he saw Naruto flat out take off towards his clones.

Naruto had made sure to send his clones a lot further ahead to make sure he didn't undershoot his attempt and was completely sure that his plan was going to work. As he neared his clones they all began to stiffen and get ready, as soon as he made it to the two leading clones in the lines they each grabbed an arm and a chain reaction began from his clones. The two clones on the far ends began to pull at the clone connected to them, which every clone did leading to the ones that were beginning to launch the original Naruto. Basically becoming a Naruto Slingshot and once all of them had pulled sending the connecting clone higher into the air then the one previous, once Naruto had been released he was being sent with all the momentum of his running speed and the pulling strength of each of his clones along with being thrown by the last two.

Naruto had no idea how fast it was actually going to send him flying, though the speed was perfect he had realized his angle was all wrong, and he was going to be sent flying straight into the neck of the Sand form. Fearful of his last effort failing he decided to attempt changing his course performing a few handsigns he had memorized with the Sharingan he brought a hand up to his mouth and looked down and nearly even with his body, "Daitoppa (Great Breakthrough)" The powerful Wind Jutsu immediately sent Naruto searing through the air, so fast he was unable to move any of his limbs, but he was heading directly for the sleeping form of Gaara. He figured at best he could grab Gaara and having a strong enough hold on him would be able to pull him out of the sand beast.

Just as Naruto was finally going to connect with Gaara and stop him, a sand tentacle sprouted out of head of Sukaku and grabbed Naruto stopping him in place. Merely a foot away from Gaara Naruto struggled and pulled himself forward doing everything he could to get free, sending his arm out as hard as he could forward in order to knock the side of Gaara's head, sadly this attempt was caught as well. "Damnit! Wake up Gaara! Grrr…"

Naruto's continued struggled had caused the sand to begin squeezing making sure that Naruto wouldn't be able to move forward and reach Gaara. Naruto had sighed for a moment feeling defeated until he began to feel an anger welling up inside him, grinding against his mind like a bad idea that he really wanted to do. Though he had no chakra tried channeling it through his body anyway trying to free himself from the sand tendrils that wrapped around all of his limbs and his waist. "Grr….I'll stop…."

Reeling from the pain of being crushed, Naruto's eyes had clamped shut to help control himself from the agony, only seconds later his eyes shot back open slit and glowing red, "I'll STOP YOU!" Swirling in red chakra his muscles tensed pulling the tendrils with him as he continued to move forward. More sand piled onto his arms though stomping them completely, though the sand around his mid section had weakened due to the overwhelming power of the evil Chakra literally seeping out of him, giving him a bit more movement.

Pulling his head back he flung it forward sending his torso forward and connecting his forward against Gaara's causing his head to shoot up and his eyes wide open. The shrill sound of the Sukaku could be heard as the sand quickly began to drop off, dissolving the large sand body, causing the forms of the Naruto and Gaara to free fall through the now loose sand. Gaara, still very dazed by Naruto's hit tried to form sand underneath him to ease his fall but was only successful in slowing himself down, before crashing through a tree hitting the branches on his way down, smashing into the ground below.

Naruto hit full force against a tree crashing through the branches like they were twigs and colliding with the ground completely unable to use any of his limbs. Seeing the form of Gaara less then a hundred feet away, and still breathing Naruto began to crawl his way to him, using his chin to push himself over the ground. Gaara who's eyes had now began to flutter open saw the crawling form of Naruto and was instantly placed in a state of rare fear, scared for his life. "W..where, do you get this strength?" Trembling Gaara was nearly frozen, having not been in so much danger since he was but a child.

Having scared the normally stoic Gaara, Naruto stopped his crawl only to speak a few words, "I get my strength by protecting my precious people, and you are a threat to them!" Ending his short answer he began to crawl even faster causing his chin to bruise and the skin to rip dripping blood onto the dirt and sand below.

A wave of understanding seem to pass through Gaara on the words of Naruto Uzumaki, _'He fights for others lives, instead of the life of his own. That is his strength?' _After that short thought a figure appeared next to Gaara ready to attack Naruto, but was stopped by the very person she was protecting with a soft but commanding voice, "No."

It was at the same moment that Shikamaru had appeared next to Naruto's crawling body, "Naruto it's fine, the village defeated the invasion, and Sakura and Ino were taken back to the village. You can rest now." Shikamaru smiled at how well the blonde Genin had performed, with only a little help he had defeated an seemingly unbeatable Gaara, "Good job Naruto.'

Before he could even hear his congratulations, Naruto had released his consciousness and was fast asleep on the ground, completely relaxed.

Shikamaru had simply given the Sand Shinobi a nod allowing them to leave, in which she grabbed Gaara and vanished. Upon a few leaps later a worn and chakra depleted Kankuro caught up with the two, as they all took a short breath on the next branch. Looking at his body, Kankuro asked the obvious, "Is Gaara okay?"

Before Temari could even answer Gaara spoke out, more then usual, "Temari, Kankuro, thank you." The sentiment had surprised the two siblings and were silenced, even after Gaara spoke again, "Let's go home." To his two siblings it had strangely sounded more like a request then a command, causing them to simply nod and continue on, towards the rest of the surrendered Sand Shinobi.

* * *

A/N

I know, not the greatest ending, but I need to get back into writing again, I promise to work harder on the next chapter! In fact! The moment this is posted I'll begin on the next one immediately. I will mention however, that though I definitely will not be holding out for more reviews, the more reviews I get the faster the next chapter will be coming out! It's like feeding my creativity when I get a lot of feedback on what I've written. =] So thanks for reading so far and I promise to follow up with another chapter by the END of this week and that's the promise of a life time, Believe it!


	7. Chapter 7: Aftermath

Team Kakashi

Part 1

Chapter 7: Aftermath

A/N

This shall be my greatest written chapter yet.

I guess for the most part I can say that we have officially passed the tough part and I can go on to relaxingly write using more, of my own creativeness other than what happened in cannon and re-work it to work with some changes. Anyway, you'll quickly see a change of pace, slower, and more detailed, more adventure, and even better, training!

* * *

With the soft and slow intake of breath through his nose, the young teen, known as Naruto Uzumaki, could tell that he was no longer in the forest floor that surrounded the walls of the village hidden in the Leaves. Another intake of air, came with a very sterile odor, one that had been very familiar to the blonde haired boy, through his many training incidences of depleting his chakra completely. Shuffling a bit, he could feel the light sheets that covered his very constricted body and grimaced at the sharp pain his body felt.

Attempting to move his arm was not a fun prospect but he was still able to do so, placing his fingertips along his side feeling bandages wrapped along his entire torso. After moving his arm he was able to feel that bandages that were wrapped around his arm as well and assumed the same was done for the other, seeing as it was difficult to move as well, resigning from doing so, after feeling the amount of difficulty. Sighing, Naruto decided to attempt opening his eyes not looking forward to the bright florescent lights that hung overhead.

Barely able to push his eyes open he noticed his left was covered, probably out of courtesy so he didn't accidentally using his weak chakra upon waking up, thank Kami for little blessing like that. Once his right eye was finally able to focus making the blobs around him to finally become clear visuals, he noticed he was in a fairly larger room then he was used to, and on a high floor, probably to keep him from jumping out in his injured state. 'Doubt I'd be able to get out even if I was on the bottom floor with the way I'm feeling, heh,' the small chuckle to himself caused a sting of pain in his gut, 'Ugh…of course it hurts to laugh.'

Carefully walking through the crowd of villagers buying supplies for the renovations of their destroyed homes, and the workers cleaning up the wreckage of the main streets, was a freshly released Sakura Haruno and a bag which contained plenty of what looked to be expensive store bought ramen. For any store bought Ramen considered to be expensive really meant that it was just a few ryo more then regular ramen, though for the majority of people the taste difference wouldn't be very noticeable, but she knew Naruto would so she had decided to get the best she could short of bringing Ichirakus which would be cold by the time she arrived.

Though a solemn look was on her face, obviously distraught from the events that had transpired not even a few days before, she was happy that Naruto was okay, even if he was bandaged like a mummy. Thinking of Naruto she had also wondered, 'How will he react to hearing about Hokage-sama. I know they were very close from they way they spoke so candidly.'

Finally arriving before the hospital she frowned, it was completely packed, both of civilians and Shinobi, though they had pretty easily defeated the invasion if you could really call it such, a lot of people had been injured. It didn't take her long to go through the building to Naruto's room, having already visited yesterday after she was medically cleared and considered, not in need of critical care that many others needed. Upon reaching the room she had been running through her head how she was even going to bring up the fact that having just seen the Hokage less then a week ago, he would have to deal with the fact his funeral was tomorrow. 'Will he even be in good enough condition to go?' her thoughts were interrupted by her hand now turning the handling unlatching the door to Naruto's room.

Still keeping his right eye half lidded Naruto turned his head only enough to see the door he had heard creak open, seeing a more rested Sakura that he hadn't seen since before the exams had started. Seeing her had immediately given Naruto the strength to push his lips into a smile, and in a weird moment, had softly spoken, "Hey Sakura-chan." Though not really because of his own effort his voice hadn't been very loud surprising Sakura at first until she realized that it was likely due to him being asleep for the last two days.

Returning the smile Sakura sat down in the chair next to Naruto's bed and placed the bag next to her chair, "Good morning Naruto-kun, are you feeling better?" Her smiled had shown the only bit of happiness she'd felt since the attack, so many had been hurt and had died, and she wasn't able to help with any of it, having been in the hospital for a day then, being too chakra depleted to really do anything the day after. At least today she could talk to Naruto and comfort him, after revealing the dreadful news over her head, even the thought of it had began to affect her causing her smile to disappear.

Naruto noticed something was wrong, maybe Ino was hurt really bad, he doesn't remember much about the fight other then he won, and Shikamaru told him Sakura was okay. "What's wrong Sakura-chan, is someone hurt?" though he had already looked tired and sad as it was, it looked like he was even worse with the worry he had on his face when he questioned her.

Those deep blue eyes of Naruto peered into her emerald ones, and had left her silent for a few seconds as she pondered the right way to go about revealing the tragedy. When she noticed that Naruto was going to try and ask again, she finally began to speak, "Hokage-sama, well he didn't make it, Orochimaru killed him." Her voice saddened after every word, and she carefully placed a hand on his in an attempt to comfort him.

Naruto couldn't really express anything other then the sad and pained look stretched across his bandaged face, though only his mouth and left eye were visible it was obvious that Naruto was affected. After a few more moments of silence, Naruto nodded at Sakura, a silent way of thanking her for being the one to tell him what happened, "When is…" Before he could finish however Sakura quickly answered him.

"Tomorrow morning, I'll bring you, your funeral garb for you." She gave him a sad smile showing that it wasn't a big deal for her to do something simple for him to try and make his life a little easier through the ordeal that the attack had took him through.

"No, need for that Sakura." Sakura had raised her head up to see that, Kakashi had been sitting in the window, usual orange book in his hand and looking at the two in front of him. Naruto had finally managed to leaned his head on that side of his pillow allowing him to see Kakashi, his head and regained a lot more moment back, though that wasn't saying much considering he had been out for the last two days.

After both teens were looking at him he produced a small scroll and flung it out swiping a small stroke of blood on the paper causing a duffle with Naruto's funeral garb and a few other basic necessities. "I figured Naruto would be up by tomorrow or at the very least force himself up for the funeral." A small half smile formed in the tight mask against his lower face, as he placed the bag down into a chair across the room.

After placing the bag down he looked towards the two and remembered that he had something he needed to do for Sakura after the Forest of Death Exam had ended. He had been lucky that thankfully Sakura didn't have any darkness in her, thoughts of pain that overwhelmed her, but it was still better to be safe than sorry. "But there is one more thing, Sakura I need you to come with me now if that's alright, we have a few things to talk about, including that seal you've been trying to hide."

Sakura had a look of surprise on her face, she had figured he would find out eventually, but had really hoped to wait until things had settled down more. "How did you…" Before she could even finish her sentence Kakashi had appeared next to her ready to go.

"I haven't been a Shinobi this long without noticing a few discrepancies in how you've acted meaning, the use of your chakra since Forest of Death has severely decreased, and the fight the two of you had with Orochimaru, made me think it was his doing. Am I right?" His deductive skills surprised both teens, but they really didn't know what to say, other then to just tell the truth, and let him know everything.

"Yes, it was Orochimaru." Sakura meekly admitted it's not that she wasn't going to tell her sensei, she really just wanted to wait, but she could see why something like that was important to be informed about very quickly. "He even said something about me being his target? But we don't know for what." Her face had dropped even lower, feeling trapped in not being strong enough to protect herself, and being the target of a powerful mad man.

"I see, that's not good, but I'm sure it's nothing to worry about right now." A smile once again appeared on his masked face as he looked down at his two charges, placing his arm around Sakura's shoulder, "Don't worry I'll never let anything happen to the two of you, as long as I'm here." With a smile coming from both Naruto and Sakura, Kakashi felt much better at the situation seeing he had the full confidence from his students placed in him.

And with the slow blinking of Naruto's tired blue eye his two teammates before him were vanished, presumably to somewhere, where Kakashi could check out that seal, "I hope Sakura-chan will be alright." With another slow opening and closing of his eye, Naruto leaned his head back against his pillow, though still sorely drained of chakra he could feel all of his reserves were being used by the Kyuubi to start healing his important parts, such as the muscles of his legs and arms, so that he'd be at least able to defend himself. After all what made Naruto safe, made the fox safe, an ironic blessing, that his greatest enemy needed and wanted him alive more than anyone else.

* * *

Being the cautious thinker he was, Kakashi had taken Sakura to an old ANBU safe house located in Konoha, so that he could have the appropriate privacy. He had prepared the room for her arrival seals being placed in nearly every inch of the room, which also had a seal around it keeping his project secret. Sakura had been placed in the middle of room in a kneeled position her head turned to the side slightly revealing more of her neck where the curse mark was visible. "This will hopefully keep you more in tuned to the curse mark allowing you the ability to fight against Orochimaru's influence."

Taking a step back away from Sakura knowing that the sealing would probably leave her feeling a bit estranged, "But mostly, Sakura, the seal is dependant on your will power. You must want to fight it's power, and not give in no matter the circumstances." Extending a hand out to her, he gave her a reassuring smile, he didn't want her to worry too much about the seal, but wanted her to be very aware of what she was facing against.

Taking his hand gratefully she rose back up to her feet, and returned the smile, "Thank you Kakashi-sensei. I don't know where I'd be without you and Naruto to be here for me." After getting back to a standing position she started to the door along with her sensei, ready to get some rest, it had been a long day, and the seal had tired her somewhat, _'I'll make sure to check on Naruto whenever I get ready in the morning.' _

* * *

The morning had seemed to come too quickly to one blonde haired genin, as the early morning light had peered through his shades waking him. That short stream of light was enough to wake him as just seconds later dark clouds covered the small amount of sun light that tried to shine through. His eye however had already been opened and his sleep over, being awake, there was no way he'd be able to go back to sleep. His first thought had been to attempt to move, which was a lot more successful then his attempts the day before, now able to move his arm up removing the blanket from his body, which was considerably healed compared to the previous day.

"Well seems like I should start to get ready." Carefully throwing his legs over the side of the bed, he groaned in pain the soreness of laying in bed constantly for three days obviously left him stiff. After he finally managed to get himself back to standing he moved over towards the duffle Kakashi had left for him. It didn't take him long to get dressed though he made sure to take off all the wraps except those that were around his left eye, though he was definitely slow moving he seemed to be okay for the most part.

As he was just beginning to attempt placing his sandals on the door creaked open revealing Sakura already dressed in the funeral outfit, a small smile was spread on her face seeing Naruto was back up, "Feeling better Naruto-kun?" She walked a few steps in watching as Naruto slipped on his sandals finally ready to go.

Naruto stretched back in the chair he was in feeling some of the stiffness flex out of his back but still held a lot of the soreness he had before spread out through his body. "Yeah, I'm still pretty sore but I can move again." Grabbing a hold of the arms of the chair he was sitting in he carefully pushed himself up back to a standing position, trying to regain some strength and feelings in his legs.

After stumbling a few feet he was caught by Sakura, who kept him from hitting the ground, they both shared a quick glance into each others eye, causing them to both blush but for just a moment. After the short awkward moment had passed though Naruto was able to regain his footing and walk by his own power. Though he had almost wished to stay like he was before in the arms of Sakura, but it wasn't the time or place for that. "To the Hokage Tower?" Naruto wasn't sure where they would do the ceremony and had guess the first place he thought of, to which sakura simply nodded, as they headed out the door, slowly of course.

The walk was a quiet one, unusual for Naruto, and uncomfortable for Sakura, she was so used to the blonde always having something to say, or at the very least making some type of noise or sound. It was very understandable though, he had just lost probably the most influential person in his entire life, that had been basically his idyllic goal, the greatest Shinobi in the Village and quite possibly at one time the strongest Shinobi in the entire world.

Turning to her right she looked at Naruto caringly, "Naruto..'

She was however promptly interrupted, for at the mention of his name, Naruto turned with his patented grin, "I'm fine, Sakura-chan, I promise." Though he was obviously not fine, Sakura hadn't questioned him further and simply game him a smile that she was going to let it go.

They were finally nearing the Hokage Tower, seeing that it was no more then a couple more blocks away, however it was Naruto's turn to ask Sakura a question one that he hadn't thought to ask until now, "What was it, that Kakashi-sensei, needed for you Sakura-chan?" They were still early and were in no hurry to the Funeral, so Naruto had decided to take the moment to rest for a moment sitting on a near by unoccupied bench. After taking his seat he looked back up to Sakura as she began to also move over to the bench, "He made it sound like a big deal. Is everything alright?" Naruto had let his head hang back against the wall the bench was in front of allowing him a more comfortable position, even though it would be a short lived comfort.

"Yes, Naruto-kun, everything is fine, he just used a seal over the curse mark that Orochimaru planted on me, to help me control it, so that I would be able to fight against the influence." Her face had gone a little solemn on the thought of the curse mark, it was truly going to be a pain getting used to it, especially the constantly nagging in the back of her mind. She couldn't quite make out the words or sounds, but it was as if something was in conflict in her head, something she couldn't control.

"Is there a way to get rid of it?" Naruto had lifted his head back off the wall, a look of anguish was on his face, anything that had endangered Sakura's life did not bode well for the blonde, as she was his most precious person left. He had already lost Sasuke, and now the old man, he really did not want to feel the loss of yet another comrade, especially one that he was unsure of what more may lye past friendship.

Feeling that Naruto really wanted to help Sakura smiled first but it quickly fell into a frown as she looked into his one visible eye, "Not that Kakashi-sensei knows of, he said it was a very complicated seal. He said there were very few that he had seen that powerful, yours being one of the few stronger." She motioned towards his stomach at the mention of his eight divinations seal that held the enormous power of what was likely the most powerful being in the entire world, at the time anyway.

"It's going to rain." Naruto's voice carried softly as he looked up into the dark sky though there was no lightning or thunder it was dark, and it didn't look scary so much as sad. _'Figures it would be a sad day.' _

"We better head up there then." With that mention Sakura had stood back up, offering her hand to Naruto who was promptly helped back up as they continued their walk to the Hokage Tower. It seemed as if the weather itself were waiting for their arrival as not even a drop had been poured from the full clouds above, though they looked ready to do so at any moment.

The even had been as expected every shinobi in the village active, retired, injured, it didn't matter, if they could get there they were there, attended the funeral. After all it's not any day, when the world renown "God of Shinobi" once known as such during his prime, dies. Though fellow shinobi of his age and just below, knew him as that, the younger generations, and learned Shinobi, knew him even better as the Professor. Though Hokage were suppose to know over a thousand jutsu to begin with, Sarutobi had known thousands more then that, and had developed hundreds of his own.

The contributions that he had made not just to the village but towards its future were extraordinary, he had completely reconfigured the way they taught in the Academy, increasing their skills, and knowledge before being thrown into the chaotic world. The addition of a Medic in all major mission teams, at the contribution of one of his students, known better as the Sannin, Legendary Three. Nearly every big change in the last twenty years had something to do with Hiruzen Sarutobi, and now that genius was lost.

* * *

The downpour of rain had been going for a good few minutes now non stop since the funeral had begun, this had no effect however on the silver haired man who stood before the large memorial stone before him. A simple sighed escaped his lips as he gently placed a hand on it, "I'm sorry again, Obito it seems I was not able to save another important flame in our village." He looked down towards the now wet grass nipping at his sandals, hated the funeral outfit he was adorning having worn it far too many times from his youth during the war.

"You're too hard on yourself Kakashi…" the gentle voice came from behind as Kakashi only half turned so that his ear was more chimed in on the girl's tone. "Obito wouldn't have expected you to save everyone you know."

There were few younger shinobi who knew the reasons why he visited the stone every day, why he was late every day, and why he would come here instead of the funeral. It would have also had to be someone with a reason to visit the stone as well, "You're probably right, Yuugao, but it doesn't mean I won't try or not accept my failures." Taking a moment to turn around so that his covered eye was the only one she could see, "I assume you're here for Hayate?"

Kakashi's statement was not unexpected he was a genius after all, "Yes, but it's always good to see my former Captain, as well." A small smile attempted to find its way on her lips but felt sour, as she quickly went back to her solemn look walking towards the memorial. As she started to kneel down placing the flowers in her hand upon the bottom of the memorial she felt the wind and leaves of Kakashi's shunshin before she even rose back up, leaving her alone with her thoughts for the moment. Her purple hair had started to drip along her armor and down her neck, as she stood out in the rain a few moments longer before she vanished as well.

* * *

The familiar comfort of his soft bed had caused the blonde Jinchuuriki to shift away from the creeping lights coming from his somehow wide open shades which he had definitely not left that way as he went to sleep the night before. Being that it was now two days after the Third's funeral, his healing abilities had finally brought him back to full strength and though more normal, he had a feeling that things were never going to be the way they used to be. So, knowing this, Naruto decided he was going to abuse one of the few things that had not changed yet and that was his comfortable escape that many share with him, sleeping in and ignoring the day.

However, it seemed that fate would not deem him the excuse to sleep in, as a shadowing form had cover the light that had caused Naruto to roll over, and in his still lucid state left him curious. Daring to peek out of his protective cover he noticed a large red clad man with a head band with the kanji for oil, and large amounts of grey hair. Sighing Naruto threw the cover back over his head, "Oh no, not you!" Annoyed that this pervert had decided to ruin what had been a great night and morning of sleep he yelled out once again towards the self proclaimed, Super Pervert, "Go away, Pervy Old Man!"

Laughing, the grey haired man simply ignored the blonde's request and decided to speak, "No, it's time to get up Naruto we have a lot to do today, especially if you are going to go with me to find our next Hokage." Pulling at the covers that Naruto was holding onto for dear life he tossed them away from his body leaving Naruto unshielded from the warm light that was peering into his room, "That is unless you think you're ready?" A joking smile had crossed the old man's face as he kicked the body of Naruto over the edge of his bed, leaving him sprawled out across the floor.

Naruto groaned in annoyance as he finally started to push himself off the ground and back to a standing position across from his window seal, where Jiraiya had been perched, "Why are you getting me though? Aren't you a Sannin?" Naruto was very confused as to why a legendary Shinobi was waking him up from oversleeping to go out on some Hokage head hunting. "You're suppose to be some kind of super ninja, why don't you get a big team of ANBU or something?"

"Oh? I should go get a team of ANBU instead of the all mighty Naruto Uzumaki, then?" Thinking he'd have some fun with the blonde Jiraiya stood up and exited the window standing on the small ledge outside of it, "Well alright then, I had figured that you would be interested in learning a new jutsu before leaving, and then getting some training in, while we traveled." Shrugging his shoulders he turned ready to leave, "But I guess if you're not interested in learning some new super cool jutsu, that's alright I'm sure you have better things to do like sleep, right?"

It seemed Jiraiya had heard of Naruto's second weakness to the wonderfulness that was Ramen, and that was Naruto's incessant desire for cool new jutsu, which the very mention of which had Naruto active and getting dressed. By the time Jiraiya, had looked over his shoulder to see Naruto's reaction, he'd discover what a useful tool that desire was, as the blonde was dressed and ready to go, already changed into his orange jumpsuit, "Cool new Jutsu you say?" The smile spread across his face had instantly reminded Jiraiya of another young blonde boy from his past.

"Haha, thought that may have changed your mind, but first of all I have a few things to prepare before we leave." The smile had started to deflate on Naruto's face to which Jiraiya was quickly on, "But don't worry I've got plans already for you while I'm waiting to hear back on a few things." Naruto's smile had immediately lit the room up once again, as he waited for what the old pervert had planned.

"Well, what is it, then! Don't keep me in suspense." Patience was definitely not one of Naruto's strong points especially when it came to training or new jutsu. He was literally jumping over the news of training and new jutsu before Jiraiya had raised a hand up indicating he needed to calm down for a moment.

A smile equal to that of Naruto's had spread across Jiraiya's face as he motioned for him to follow, "I'm going to teach you how to Walk on Water to control your chakra better. Then after that….Well let's see if you can do this first." The smile on Jiraiya's face had stayed even as he was contemplating the methods that he was going to use to help Naruto control the massive amount of chakra he held inside him.

* * *

A/N

Well that was a short chapter, but probably my best by far! Did not have that much action, but I think as far as writing skills, and proper descriptions, it's been the best I've put out yet. And don't worry this wasn't a one off, every one after this will be as good if not better! I can't start back and re-write this story to make it better, but I can make it get better as it goes along, and hopefully you guys will go through with me through the bad so we can enjoy the good together!

So be ready for training, toads, and maybe a demon or two.

Advice and reviews are appreciated! If I get enough I may be able to put ANOTHER chapter out in a few days! I know! I've already given you two in a week! I must have gone CRAZY or something.

Post. Script.

I know I haven't mentioned this enough, but I want to thank everyone who's been reading and reviewing, I know that, I'm definitely not the best writer out there, but I saw something I wanted to try and I'm doing it! You guys have been a great support and I need to start appreciating that more, so for now on, every chapter I'll be picking out One reviewer who's review really effected me or helped me in some way and give them a shout out and a personal thank you note at the end of the A/N. That's not to say there won't be more then one occasionally it just depends on the reviews.

Reviewer Shout Out and Response.

This chapter however I'm giving the shout out to Agent-G who's review really helped me put my writing in perspective, I've had some rough patches and haven't been writing like I should have. In face he inspired the quick post of this chapter and how hard I worked on it. Thank you Agent-G, again for your review and helping me put my writing into perspective so I could do better!


	8. Chapter 8: Training

Team Kakashi

Part 1

Chapter 8: Training

A/N

This is the first step into a lot of what's going to be the base for the story, maybe not this particular chapter, but this arc, will place a lot of what is going to happen in the future in motion. Also, I want to point out, that I am not going to follow Kishimoto's every word, or character change. I will keep his facts, and jutsu in my book of ideas, however I will put them in the way I want them to be. So, unfortunately no godlike characters for a long long long time.

* * *

"AHHHH…." The loud echoing scream had come from the now completely drenched blonde genin, who was now flailing about in the cold river, "That's cold!" Making his way back to shore, he flung his body up to the river bank and tried to warm up by rubbing his arms and breathing into his hands. "I can't believe how hard this is!" Naruto had finally managed to get back up to his feet after another moment or two of complaining about the cold soaking clothes.

'His chakra control is pretty terrible.' Jiraiya had been mostly in the bushes observing the, 'Fine new characters' for his next, book. From what he'd seen of Naruto's attempts though, _'The kid simply has too much chakra for him to use the right amount of control for jutsu that require a concentrated amount of chakra.'_ He had stopped watching the ladies in the pond below their area, and had started to fall into deep thought on Naruto's problem.

Having fell into a deep center of thought he hadn't noticed that Naruto was now standing right behind him probably talking to him, but he was just on the verge of an idea to help Naruto out. Finally having devised an idea he quickly launched up to his feet nearly knocking over the small boy standing behind him, "Naruto, I think I have a way to help your chakra control." A large grin appeared on both faces, one of pride and one of excitement.

"Really!" Naruto's face was lit up at the idea of getting more training in what was probably his worse skill as a Ninja even more so then his lack of knowledge pertaining to Genjutsu. His question was answered by just a simple nod by the older Shinobi as he started to walk over to the river motioning for Naruto to fall in line behind him.

"You see Naruto, because you have such enormous reserves of chakra even as high as my own if not higher so, it's more difficult for you to perform jutsu that require a constant stream of chakra at a certain level." He had given a moment to pause so that Naruto could contemplate what he said and given him the opportunity to ask him questions, which he hadn't and had motioned for him to continue. "So basically, my idea is for you to create as many Kage Bunshin as you can and then dispel them, to try and exhaust your chakra some."

Naruto had understand most of what Jiraiya was saying and once he finished decided to try and make sure he understood it completely, "So, what you're saying is that, if I use a lot of my chakra, until I start to get pretty low it'll be easier to control?"

Happy that the blonde gathered on the idea so quickly, he smiled and shuffled his hair a bit, "Pretty much, but it's not exactly the perfect plan." After stepping a few feet back he continued, "It really won't help your control in general that much, because you'll hardly ever be that low on chakra." This part was starting to confuse the short genin as he gave his temporary sensei an odd look.

"Well if it's not really going to help when I have my full amount of chakra what is the point of doing this then?" He continued to give Jiraiya a confused look as he awaited his answer, about his training.

Jiraiya let a smile creep on to his face as he began the explanation of his plan, "Simple Naruto, if you practice enough using the correct amount of chakra your mind and body will remember it, a type of muscle memory." His long years of training experience were brightly shining through his explaining of the Blonde's training. "After you've memorized the amount of chakra you'll be using to practice Water Walking, you'll be able to channel the appropriate amount when you're at full stamina."

The young blonde was beaming up at Jiraiya amazed by his genius when it came to training, and just as instructed began to use his Kage Bunshin repeatedly. Though with his massive amounts of chakra it would definitely be a while before he ran out, something that Jiraiya was well aware of, and would come up in the next part of their training. Jiraiya was hoping that since they started so early today he would be able to at least partly master the Water Walking skill.

However the day was still young and Naruto had a lot more chakra to burn off before they could even begin to start the next attempt at his Water Walking training. Sighing, the grey haired man took a seat near the river and began to focus in on Naruto's chakra while meditating so that he would be able to tell Naruto when he was ready. Thankfully Jiraiya had chosen a spot underneath a large shady tree keeping him out of the warm morning sun, which was sure to only get even hotter as the day went on. Having started this Water Walking training almost a week ago with no word on Tsunade's whereabouts, he may have to take Naruto out of the village soon himself and do some of his own reconnaissance work, something he'd rather not do until Naruto had better control.

* * *

Naruto was not the only one that was hard at work training, as not far outside the village a one eyed man nearly lost his grip climbing towards the top of a very steep mountain. Flexing his tied up hand he sighed to himself as he neared the top finally pulling himself up to the peak, "This was a lot more difficult then it used to be."

After the Cyclops had pulled himself up he turned towards the edge of the mountain to see just how high up he had climbed without chakra, which had nearly completely exhausted the former ANBU captain. Turning back around after feeling a near by presence the masked face of the copy nin Kakashi, curved into a smile as he was greeted by a mesh of pink and red, in the form of his second student Sakura Haruno.

"Ahh Sakura how are you today?" Though able to hide his exhaustion for the most part, he was only able to just barely give her the usual greeting. After closer examination he noticed that she hadn't appeared to be there for casual conversation, she looked determined, and determined for her or Naruto usually meant a lot of time consuming work on his part.

"Kakashi-sensei, I'm here to train." She had took a small step toward the silver haired Jounin she was already in her shinobi gear ready to go, her plans obviously didn't include a bad answer from her Sensei.

"After not being able to help Naruto in his fight against Gaara, it's made me realize I need more to stand out then just a little help from the Sharingan." She still wasn't finished though and quickly continued her reasoning, "Naruto's been training with Jiraiya-sama for nearly a week, and he's sure to get a lot stronger! And if I don't want to be a burden on this team, I need to get stronger as well, right sensei?" At this point her eyes appeared to be pleading for Kakashi to accept and train her, she was desperate to prove that she was more then just another average leveled Genin.

Kakashi really could not argue with her logic, they were a man down on their team, and Naruto was definitely getting some intense training from the Toad Sennin. Shrugging his shoulders inwardly he gave the pink haired girl a masked, smile and nodded, "Sakura, you make a great point, I believe some joint training between the two of us would be a great work out, not only just for you." Using his free hand to grab a kunai he swiftly cut through his bindings, freeing his left arm, "But for myself as well. After all if I'm going to protect the two of you from the clutches of Orochimaru I'm going to have to get back into prime condition." His Prime condition of course referring to the days of when he was leader of ANBU Black Ops, and became the feared Copy Cat ninja, master of over a thousand jutsu.

Sakura nearly leapt off the ground in excitement, "That's great Kakashi-sensei! I won't let you down!" She was beaming at him with a wide smile from ear to ear, however her smile was cut down intentionally by that of Kakashi.

"I wouldn't be too excited yet Sakura, when I said joint training I didn't mean that we would be training in the same area." At first Sakura gave him a confused look, not sure where he was going with this, "You'll be doing the same training I'll be doing albeit maybe not at the same level nor as long, but every training regime I used in ANBU you'll be doing as well."

"This is the only way I'll train you, so it's your choice Sakura, if you need time to decide on whether or not you want to dedicate yourself to.." Before the Jounin could even finish Sakura was promptly looking him right in the face, and yelling out excitedly remnant to one absent Blonde Jinchuuriki.

"Of course, I'll dedicate myself to it!" Her emerald eyes had not wavered from Kakashi's as she gave him a wide smile though she was definitely worried about the toll the training would take on her, she would do anything for Naruto, Kakashi, and her village. "So when do we start, then!" She had gotten ready for training earlier that day and was planning on having started as soon as she asked.

"At the break of dawn, would be the best time to start, should keep you from getting dehydrated later on when it gets hotter." His smile hadn't faded in the least even upon mentioning the possibility of her passing out from the amount of effort combined with the natural warm weather which seemed almost year round for the village hidden in the leaves. "So you should make sure to drink plenty of water tonight and tomorrow morning before you come here, and light breakfast would do you some good as well. There won't be a lot of breaks for eating or rest."

Sakura seemed a little disappointed that they would not begin training together until tomorrow though she understood why after mentioning the rigors of how training would go. "I guess it would give me some time to tell Naruto about me beginning my new training as well. Especially since he told me something about how he may have to leave the village any time, though he hadn't said why yet."

Sighing she looked up to her sensei once more, "I guess I'll see you in the morning then, Kakashi-sensei?" The sun above the two was still shining brightly having only just become the middle of the day, she figured she still had a couple of hours before Naruto would be finished with his training, and seeing as how she was just about to begin her training she'd try to force him to let her pay for once.

After saying good-bye to his young student, Kakashi had sighed, "Well, time to start with the next training." Reaching into a jacket pocket he pulled out a small scroll and pricked his thumb, after a smart bubble of blood began to drip out he rolled out the scroll and allowed his thumb to slide over the thin paper, causing a poof of smoke to reveal two sets of weights. Two wrist band sized hundred pound weights and another set twice as large and twice as heavy at two hundred each.

"Gai, you may be insane, but at least you have a knack for physical training." Smiling at the thought of his friend and 'rival' so to speak, he strapped all of his weights on. After doing so he lost the light hearted smile that had been curving his mask, and almost immediately became another person, as a look of pure focus had overcame his being. Carefully nearing the edge he leapt and turned quickly grabbing the edge with his gloved hands, maintaining a strong grip, still not allowing himself to use chakra he started his descent.

* * *

The bright yellow ball of light and heat had just started into the west as, the Tall figure of Jiraiya stood up, signaling for Naruto to stop his Kage bunshin summoning. Having never summoned so many consistent clones before, Naruto was sweating a lot, and seemed to be nearly exhausted, his reserves depleted so far, that comparably it was around an average Genin's maximum. Reaching up with a sore and tired arm he swiped the rolling beads of sweat off his brow and looked up to his sensei, "Heh…is that good enough, Ero-Sennin?"

Jiraiya smiled, as he gave the blonde a short nod and motioned for him to proceed to the small water way, "Channel all of your remaining chakra and attempt it now, Naruto, I'm sure you'll know an immediate difference."

Doing as he was told, he quickly formed his hands into the, Ram hand sign, and focused all the chakra he could feel in his body and channeled it to his feet. Easily stepping out he placed his foot on the still flowing water, but he wasn't sinking, placing his back foot up to his right, he was still staying above the water. A wide smile split the young Shinobi's face as he took another step, and then another all while still remaining afloat, "Yes!" His excitement was obvious, and too much for the Blonde haired Genin as he jumped into the air, forgetting for a moment that he still had to concentrate his chakra until he came back down.

Nearly losing his concentration both his feet went underneath the water before they rose back up over the surface of the water, "You see that, Ero-Sennin! I did it!"

Jiraiya looked proudly at the boy, "Good job Naruto! I knew you'd be able to do it!" A large hand patted Naruto on the shoulder a few times as Naruto calmly walked his way back to the shore, "Try and walk back and forth from the riverbank on the other side back to this shore for the next hour and we'll begin the next exercise." After having given Naruto the instructions for him to better master the Water Walking jutsu, Jiraiya went back to his meditative stance, he was not looking forward to what was next.

The hour had passed quickly for Jiraiya who was dreading the arduous training he was going to put Naruto through, and a meeting that could be delayed no longer. For the young Genin however the training couldn't end soon enough, as he watched the form of Jiraiya raise up once again as he neared the shore for a final time he flopped onto the warm grass and sighed with relief. "Heh, finally!"

"Not tired yet, are you Naruto?" Jiraiya had stood up over shadowing the sun which still shone brightly, still hours left of day light, there was a lot more work to do, "And here I thought you wanted to learn a cool new jutsu?" Turning away he continued to speak, "Well I guess you can wait a while since you're too tired to learn it, maybe some other time right Naruto?" Jiraiya had a little bit too much fun teasing his student dangling his weakness in his face to try and get him back up on his feet.

"No I'm good let's keep training!" Naruto was in front of Jiraiya in moments, beaming at the grey haired Sannin, to which he nodded and motioned for Naruto to move back to the riverbank, towards the more shallow parts, near the rocks. Doing so Naruto got his orange jumpsuit and quickly pulled everything back on and waited though confused as he watched the old man carrying the large scroll in his hands.

Before Naruto could question him he flung the scroll open revealing a long description written in kanji, though before he could start attempting to read it, Jiraiya interrupted as usual, "This is the summoning scroll for my Toads, a most loyal of companions and as powerful as any ninja ready to accompany you by your side any time!" Boasting at the family of Toads who had become very close friends to him, Jiraiya beamed at the idea of adding another name for the first time in thirty years to the ancient scroll.

"Oooh, that's very cool!" as he looked at the names he quickly recognized out of the four Jiraiya's however the name after his came as a huge shock, and a moment of awe, "Minato Namikaze, wasn't that, The Fourth Hokage?" Naruto's face brightened as he looked up to his sensei, who simply smiled at Naruto.

"Indeed, he was, and my start pupil, whom I trained when he was younger then you." Jiraiya had reminisced for just a moment before being brought back to the present, "Oh, just prick your finger, with a kunai and write your name in blood on the scroll and you'll have the ability to summon Toads, after I show you the hand signs."

Naruto quickly pricked his finger, and signed the scroll, in the same downward design as the others before him, and added his finger prints all signed in his blood, the wound ironically had just started to heal as he finished. Before Naruto could say anything else, Jiraiya quickly grabbed the scroll told Naruto to uncover his headband and watch him.

"Summing Jutsu!" Jiraiya pricked his thumb quickly and slammed his hand onto the ground causing seal characters to spread from his hand and covering a small area on the ground. After a large poof of smoke a large orange toad with blue spots appeared, not waiting for an introduction Jiraiya quickly tossed the scroll to him, "Gama, take that to the boss." Catching the scroll with his tongue the toad simply nodded and with a poof of smoke was gone in an instant.

"Did you catch those hand signs Naruto?" Jiraiya turned towards the impressed blonde who simply nodded, "Good, I want you to focus all the chakra you have and use the summoning jutsu." Giving him a simple thumbs up Jiraiya plumped down in the shade of a tree and watched his pupil.

A swell of determination filled Naruto as he began to perform the hand signs and quickly slammed his hand down onto the ground, "Summing Jutsu!" A small poof of smoke had appeared and as it dissipated a To..a… A tiny tadpole appeared on the rocks simply flailing about knowing no better and bounced itself into the water, with a quiet drip. A sweat drop rolled down Naruto's forehead as he scratched the back of his head, "Uh how was that, Ero-Sennin? Heh, heh… "

Jiraiya's face was shocked and appeared to have had no expression other then the odd pursing of his lips,_ 'Absolutely no talent….ugh it's like training a newborn or something I've had to start from scratch with everything.'_

Not needing a reply Naruto continued at it for hours the sun had been gone from sight for a while hidden behind one of the many mountains around the leaf village, leaving an orange hue in the sky with just enough light to continue training. "Summoning Jutsu!" A small poof of smoke appeared once again the only change from the previous attempts was a loud, "Victory!" Naruto raised his fist into the air excitedly over his self deemed successful attempt of the Summoning jutsu.

"You really have no talent do you?" Jiraiya had spoken flatly giving Naruto an odd look as to his victory call.

"What are you talking about!" Naruto bellowed back towards the old man across from him, "Look!" Jiraiya let his head drop as he looked down, a small tadpole like creature was swinging two slightly developed legs underneath of it, attempting to get movement. "See it's got two legs!"

"Oh that's great, all it needs it two arms and a brain, and then I can train it!" Jiraiya had seemed to hit a boulder sized roadblock in their training, his weak control over the chakra he currently possessed left it unable to be used potently enough to summon correctly. "Ugh, we'll continue this tomorrow Naruto." Jiraiya sighed as he stood back up and started on his way back to the village, as he started walking away he begun to think to himself on how he could find a way for Naruto to learn the mastery of Summing Jutsu, "Maybe, if we involve him in the training, the chakra will be potent enough for him to finally use the summoning jutsu correctly…"

Naruto had disappointingly started on his way back to his apartment the long training he had went through in the past week really helped him put into perspective how bad his control truly was over his chakra even with the help of the Sharingan. He also couldn't help but wonder what all those questions about the two chakras were about, or even why he had two chakras, it was a confusing topic for Naruto. Intangible obstacles were never his favorite, _'I really just prefer something I can hit or feel.'_ Shaking his head he looked up to realize he had already made it to Ichiraku's, _'Well that's a pleasant surprise, to help make the day a little better.'_

Upon entering the curtained area, he saw a certain pink haired girl, who looked to be waiting for someone, "Are you waiting for anyone in particular?" Naruto acted unknowingly as he dropped himself down on the seat next to hers giving her a bright though exhausted smile.

Sakura turned quickly after recognizing the voice and lightly, bonking Naruto on the head, "Idiot, I'm waiting on you obviously!" Smiling at him she went on, " You've been training so late everyday I hardly ever see you anymore, I missed you a little bit." She blushed slightly after admitting to having missed her blonde hair team mate but managed to hide it from Naruto as he was turned facing towards Ayame about to order.

After having given Ayame his large as usual order he turned back to the no longer red faced, Sakura, "So how'd you know to find me here anyway, at this time? You didn't seem like you had been waiting long." Naruto anxiously awaited his ramen being as hungry as he was having not ate since his lone lunch break at noon, but he didn't break eye contact with Sakura.

"Oh, well I figured you'd be coming here after you trained everyday so I just asked Ayame when you usually showed up." The simplicity of how she figured it out caused Naruto to slap his forehead in a no duh, type fashion, and Sakura just gave him a small laugh and tongue sticking out, to pick on him a bit more. "So I really only had to wait a couple of minutes, really, I actually just finished eating a moment or two before you came in."

Giving Naruto some time to start on his Ramen as well, knowing that if she asked him anything he would just talk with his mouth full, "So how was your training today?" She managed a question in between bowls of Ramen to which he pushed away his fifth bowl and sighed.

"Oh, uhm well I finally learned how to walk on water! A little bit anyway!" He started out excitedly and bold, however not one to shy away from his weaknesses he had admitted that he had quite, mastered, the technique. "I've also started on a summoning jutsu as well, I can't really do it that well yet, but I'm working on it."

Scratching his head a bit, not being so used to having all the attention on him in casual conversation he quickly shot a question back for her, "What about you, Sakura, what have you been doing?"

"Actually that's what I've been looking forward to telling you , Naruto-kun, I'm getting ready to start some serious training with, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto looked as excited as she felt as well, "He said, that it was going to be extremely difficult though, but it'll definitely be worth it! Especially if I'll be as strong as you Naruto-kun."

"That's amazing Sakura, I can't believe you guys are going to be doing all that training just the two of you." Naruto wasn't surprised that it was going to be really difficult training, anything with Kakashi usually was, "Do you have any idea what he's going to teach you?" Naruto had been teasing his seventh bowl of Ramen, more interested in what Sakura had to say rather then his meal, a big change in the Blonde having been more drawn to her then anything else really.

"Not, really, what he had told me though, was that he's going to be putting me through the same ANBU training that he went through, I'm a little scared but it's nothing I can't handle without my two favorite guys watching over me." She liked mentioning how proud she was to be on a team with the strongest Jounin in Konoha, and probably the toughest most unpredictable Genin in the history of the Village.

The rest of the night had gone pretty uneventful, Naruto had finished his last bowl and expectedly, offered to walk Sakura home, which had thankfully not been real far from his own apartment. Having told her goodnight and hoping that they get more time to see each other, he was about to leave before she pulled him back and gave him a kiss on the cheek. It seemed every time they spent any amount of extended time together, it left Naruto wanting to spend more of it with her, but he knew he had other things he had to do, his training was important.

Naruto was pretty much on auto-pilot as he walked back home to his apartment, barely making it through his door simply falling face first into bed quickly falling into a deep sleep his mind on the usual things, ramen, Sakura, and being Hokage. The warm feeling of the sun peering through the cracks in his shades and the alarm on his nightstand blaring next to his head interrupted the relaxing dream world which Naruto had been so immersed into. "Dang…morning already."

Forcing himself up out of bed he went through his normal rituals of showering and getting dressed, eating a quick bowl of cereal and he was on his way out towards the same spot they had been working at every day. Today had felt different in the mind of the Blonde shinobi, whether it was something in the air, or maybe just the affects of his training making him feel different, it was as if something important was going to happen. Shrugging at the thought, Naruto just continued walking getting a few more smiles from the people around the village then he was used to, he had even been offered a date or two from girls he hadn't even met before.

_'Maybe this is what it's like to have people acknowledge me…'_ Naruto had to admit he enjoyed the feeling of being respected, it was a euphoria of sorts, where he just felt so much more powerful and confident in his own abilities. "Yeah, today's the day, I'm going to master that jutsu!" With his confidence at an all time high he quit walking and took off, kicking up a small cloud of dust as he began to leap across the village towards the small riverbank in which a meditating Jiraiya sat.

"You seem, ready to go, confident?" The raising form of Jiraiya simply looked at Naruto with an expressionless face, today was not a day for regular training, he was going to take a chance and if Naruto was feeling confident it was the best time to do it. He started to walk towards Naruto his wooden sandals making almost no sound amazingly, especially with his given size, perhaps that was simply a hint of how serious the situation was becoming.

"You better believe it, Ero-Sennin." Naruto gave him a sharp look of determination and a knowing smile that Naruto couldn't help but give, he didn't think he was going to perform the jutsu right, 'I know I'm going to do it right this time.'

Watching Naruto perform the signs, and getting ready to bite his thumb, Jiraiya sent a hard punch into Naruto's open gut, "Sorry Naruto, it wouldn't have worked." Throwing the boy over his shoulder Jiraiya carried him off to a different part of the woods where a large row of trees sat as a border so that travelers and Villagers don't fall into the large canyon on the opposite side. Staying on the side of the traveling road, he dropped Naruto unceremoniously onto the ground hoping for it to wake up him.

As the groggy form of Naruto began to rise his half-lidded eyes looked up to the towering form of Jiraiya who had started to speak once his consciousness had fully returned to him, "Naruto, the other chakra we spoke of, only becomes available to you in a life or death situation. Dig deep and find it, or die." Once Naruto had risen up to a full standing position he was swiftly pushed off into the air through a gap in trees and out of the border of foliage.

He had no idea what was going and after having been sent through the air he didn't have even a moment to react, before he knew it his eyes were looking straight up towards the bright blue sky. His breath pushed out of his lungs he gasped for a moment, until he realized there was nothing beneath him, and literally felt himself start to drop, into a dangerously lined abyss, with sharp jagged edges along its sides. A moment of realization seemed to wash over the frozen face of Naruto, if he didn't move he was going to die, flipping over onto his stomach so he could see where he was going, he needed to do something quick.

Raising his hands up into the Ram Sign he began to channel chakra to his hands and feet, "Alright and…now!" Once he gather the proper amount of chakra he struck out an arm towards a jagged edge only for his hand to grab onto the slippery surface and lose his grip almost immediately, "Ahh… No way…"

Jiraiya who was peering over the edge out, of Naruto's view, was watching him, hoping for him to make the right choices, "That won't work Naruto, with such low mastery of your own chakra control there is no way you'd be able to grab onto such a slippery wet surface like that." Gritting his teeth he continued watching Naruto fall, "Come on Naruto, you've only ever been able to access his chakra through emotions, you need to learn to turn the key yourself! DO it Naruto!"

"I'm really going to die, here…." Naruto had continued watching himself fall, the spikes on the lines of the walls appearing and disappearing in mere instants. Shaking his head he wasn't ready to die, he had too much to do still, "No! Not yet!" Bringing his hands up into the Ram Sign once more he began to concentrate again, "I have to find that second chakra."

* * *

Re-opening his eyes, he was no longer dropping in the dark abyss of the canyon but in a dark and wet sewer like place, he felt, lucid, like a dream that he knew was a dream. 'But I'm not dreaming, what is this?' His thoughts sounded like an echo in his head, in this place wherever he was, but for some reason he felt the urge to walk forward, through the tunnels. After just a moment or two of walking, and having only took two turns he arrived before an enormous metal gate his feet trudging forward in the ankle deep water that he didn't even want to fathom a guess what was in it.

A dark low toned voice echoed in his head, **"Come closer, little boy."** As he neared the gate a large claw shot forward, who's sharp edges could just barely reach past the bars knocking Naruto backwards into the dank floor, "What the?" Looking up he noticed a pair of Red slit eyes and a large scary grin in which it pushed a killer intent down onto Naruto attempting to keep him still, but he wouldn't have it. **"If it were not for the accursed sealing spell I would eat you." **

Taking a moment to think he noticed a small piece of paper keeping the gate closed, on it the Kanji, Seal, sat very firm, unmovable even, "Of course….The other chakra." Looking at the outline of the eyes and toothy grin was a dark red aura of malice, but it was pure chakra, of the likes Naruto had never seen before. "It's the Nine Tailed Fox!"

The feeling of determination began to reinvigorate the Blonde Genin as he stood up, realizing that the Nine Tails still couldn't get to him he looked back into it's Red Eyes, and yelled out to it, "Since you've been living in me, I thought it was time for you to start paying rent!" Gritting his teeth he pumped his fist up chest high and yelled up at the fox again, "You hear me! You since you gotta start paying, your chakra will be the cost, so cough up that chakra!"

The dark chakra entity laughed echoing the world with it's darkness causing a slight shake in the reality of Naruto's mindscape, **"Well I guess you can't die, because what kills you would kill me as well." **Building up a bubbling source of chakra around him he began to allow it to flow forward, **"Very well then, for your enormous courage here…is…my…Chakraaa!"**

* * *

Next Chapter!

Fighting Cherry Blossoms and Giant Toad Bosses!

A/N

So our first real run in with the Kyuubi, nice guy huh? Haha.

Anyway, I know so far it's all been pretty similar, but this part was an exceptionally well, done part in the manga and the anime. So I thought I would keep it pretty close to how it was originally portrayed. So I've been able to push three chapters out in one month, and another one on the way before this week is over. I really hope I've made up for not posting as often as I would have liked! Anyway on to the Reviewer shout out!

Reviewer Shout Out & Response

The Review of the chapter comes from synergyfox, who gave me the morale booster I needed to sit down and type out four thousand words in a single sitting. Thank you Synergyfox for the review! And hope we hear more from you! I would really like to hear more input from you guys, the readers, as to what you would like to see, and if it's good you'll definitely get the shout out, and your idea in the story.


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